With three tries in the Black Ferns initial 41-17 victory over Australia, Portia Woodman replaced Vanessa Cootes as the Black Ferns leading try scorer at the World Cup with 16 tries in five games. Cootes scored 13 tries in six games.
In fact Woodman is the highest Kiwi individual try scorer (male or female) in New Zealand World Cup history. The late, great All Black Jonah Lomu dotted down 15 times in the 1995 and 1999 World Cups.
Only Sue Day of England with 19 tries between 1998 and 2006 is ahead of Woodman as a World Cup try scorer. USA centre Jen Crawford also scored 16 tries, winning the first World Cup in 1991 and captaining the Eagles against the Black Ferns in the 1998 World Cup final.
The Black Ferns have scored 251 tries in 33 World Cup Tests, adding seven to that tally in the win against Australia. Lock Joanah Ngan-Woo became the first forward to score the first try of a World Cup tournament for the Black Ferns. Previously backs had always scored the first try. The first try in World Cup history was scored by Canterbury wing Helen Mahon-Stroud in 1991.
The Black Ferns have scored 135 tries in 23 Tests against Australia, conceding only 22.
Vanessa Cootes (1995) and Selica Winiata (2016) hold the record for most tries in a Test against Australia with four.
Winiata and Carla Hohepa with 10 tries each hold the record for most tries by the Black Ferns against Australia.
The Black Ferns have scored 49 tries in seven Tests under Wayne Smith, 28 of those tries have been scored in the second half.
Most Tries for the Black Ferns (tries listed first followed by Tests):
Vanessa Cootes, 43/16
Selica Winiata, 39/41
Portia Woodman, 34/21
Renee Wickliffe, 22/44
Tammi Wilson 21/16
Carla Hohepa 21/28
Louise Wall, 19/15
* Fiao’o Fa'amausili holds the forwards try scoring record with 17 in 58 Tests.
Most Tries in a Black Ferns Test
Vanessa Cootes, 9 v France, 1996
Portia Woodman 8 v Hong Kong, 2017*
Portia Woodman 7 v Japan, 2017
Tammi Wilson 6 v USA, 1999
Vanessa Cootes 5 v USA, 1998*
Vanessa Cootes 5 v USA, 1996
Vanessa Cootes 5 v Germany, 2002*
Selica Winiata 5 v Samoa, 2014
*Denotes World Cup Test.