Athens News - England women back to winning ways with last-gasp defeat of New Zealand

England's record 39-game winning streak, dating back to a 2022 World Cup final loss, came to an end last week with a 26-26 draw against Canada

And it seemed as though England, who beat Canada in last year's World Cup final at Twickenham, were destined for another draw on Saturday, when, with 80 minutes already on the clock and the scores locked at 19-19, Harrison fell short with a penalty from just inside half-way.

But rather than kick the ball dead to secure a draw, New Zealand ran the ball out of defence in search of a win, only for Harrison to intercept Amy du Plessis's long pass before scoring an 82nd-minute try which sparked wild celebrations amongst her England team-mates and the bulk of a crowd of nearly 60,000.

"I nearly suffocated at the bottom of the pile-on and I was screaming for them to get off me because I still had to go and kick!" Harrison, who ended the match with 11 points after converting three of England's four tries, including her own, told the BBC.

England head coach John Mitchell, once in charge of his native New Zealand men's team, said: "The Red Roses don't play New Zealand and Canada often -- it's important to learn how to win tight Test matches."

Defeat was tough on New Zealand after they had battled back from 19-12 behind following second-half tries by England's Ellie Kildunne and Jess Breach before Mererangi Paul's converted try drew the Black Ferns level with 10 minutes to play.

"I'm just immensely proud," said New Zealand captain Georgia Ponsonby. "It was a hell of a Test match, everything we could have hoped for and more. We came so close. Gutted we came so close and fell short. What a Test match."

England opened the scoring through Claudia Moloney-MacDonald's 13th-minute try.

But New Zealand, despite defence guru Shaun Edwards now being a member of England's backroom staff, led 12-7 at half-time thanks to tries from Du Plessis and Ayesha Leti-I'iga.

M.Papanikolaou--AN-GR