Shakira Baker in action for the Black Ferns Sevens. PHOTO/GETTY IMAGES
JAKE BELESKI
Former Greytown School and Wairarapa College student Shakira Baker played her part in the Black Ferns Sevens team’s dominant display at the Langford Sevens in Canada.
Baker was used mainly as an impact player from the bench over the two days of action, which started with a 51-0 win over Brazil on Sunday (NZT).
The other pool matches resulted in a convincing win over England (22-0) and narrow escape against Fiji (12-7)
Monday’s quarter-final was a rematch with England, and it was a closer affair this time around but the Kiwis came out victorious, 17-12.
The Black Ferns hit top form once they got to the semi-final match with the United States, romping to a 33-10 victory.
That still was no indication of what they would produce in the final, as they demolished Australia with a performance as close to perfect as you could hope for.
The lead was 22-0 to New Zealand at halftime, and the final score of 46-0 easily eclipsed their biggest ever defeat of Australia, which was 28-5 before yesterday.
New Zealand ran in eight tries in total — two each to Portia Woodman, Kelly Brazier and Niall Williams — and they would have reached 50 points if the goalkicking had been more accurate.
The other tries went to Ruby Tui and captain Sarah Goss.
The result capped off an outstanding tournament for Woodman, who scored seven tries — including a hat-trick on the quarter-final — and was named player of the match in the final.
The victory is the Black Ferns second straight series event win and leaves them four points back from Australia in the world series standings heading into next week month’s final event in Paris.
The Kiwis will carry all the momentum into that weekend, having won the last two tournaments and beaten Australia in the final of the Commonwealth Games.
– with NZME
