Wallaroos coach Jo Yapp believes that whilst the 73 points scored against Samoa is great, it’s their defensive clean sheet that has them in good standing for an important fortnight at the Rugby World Cup.
The Wallaroos recorded their highest ever win at the World Cup as a hat-trick to Desiree Miller pushed them past the previous record set in 2010 against South Africa.
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But it’s the ability to keep Samoa scoreless that was most impressive, a mark they have not done since that record win 15 years ago.
Samoa had nine entries inside their 22 with no success, while comparatively, the Australians ran in 11 tries from 12 entries.
“Just massive credit to the girls because Samoa came out especially in that second half really strong and they were really battering our tryline for some time and the girls kept stepping up,” Yapp said post-match.
“I’m really proud of their efforts there because when it's a bigger scoreline, it would be easy just to let tries in and the girls didn't do that.
“I just thought from the start of the game where we executed our set piece like our lineout and maul, I just thought that gave us a really strong platform for the rest of the game.”
The win gives the Wallaroos a massive confidence boost ahead of Saturday’s match against the USA in York.
It shapes as almost an early knock-out game for both sides, with Australia’s path into the quarter-finals secured with a win.
If not, they’d need a massive upset over the world number one England in Brighton.
“I think the US played a pretty strong game,” co-captain Emily Chancellor believes.
“They had some discipline problems but in the same breath, they presented very similar attack pictures to what we've seen throughout the year.
“I think as long as we execute what our game plan is, we'll be in a good position but they had some heart out there, they had some ticker and I think we need to be ready for a pretty physical game again."
The only concern for the Wallaroos is winger Desiree Miller, who was on the end of a nasty high tackle that ended in a red card.
Miller suffered a cut on her lip as the winger underwent an HIA post-match.
