Yesterday at CommBank Stadium in Parramatta, Australia beat Wales 124-6 to close the pool stage of the Women’s Rugby League World Cup with the biggest win in the history of the women’s international game: 21 tries, a 60-0 halftime lead, six tries from Jaime Chapman and 44 points from Jesse Southwell. The full story of the record itself is in iimiTV’s breaking report on the Jillaroos’ record win over Wales.
FINAL: Australia 124, Wales 6
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Monday brought the layer a scoreline cannot carry. A debutant who was watching from home 72 hours earlier is now a Jillaroo, the team’s star fullback has ended a tryscoring drought and explained the pass-first game behind it, the halves pairing for the Jillaroos semi-final against Fiji is a genuine three-way decision, and Wales have gone home claiming a legacy instead of a hiding. The Rugby League World Cup’s official highlights carry all 21 tries from Sunday:
Sheridan Gallagher’s 72 Hours, From Her Couch To Jillaroo No. 187
The best story of the morning after did not score a try on Sunday. Sheridan Gallagher ran on in the 33rd minute against Wales to become Jillaroo No. 187, completing a week that started with her cheering the team on from home. The Canberra Raiders fullback was first called into camp by coach Jess Skinner as an injury replacement in the extended squad for Julia Robinson, who had dislocated her wrist, and was then called into the team itself for the Wales match. “It’s pretty crazy that 72 hours ago I was only called into camp and I got to play this weekend, so it’s something pretty special,” Gallagher told NRL.com after the match.
Her debut carries a second code with it. Gallagher was previously the captain of the Under 20 Young Matildas, and Sunday made her an Australian international in both soccer and rugby league. “It’s pretty cool that I’ve been able to achieve it this year,” she said. “I think it’s pretty special to be able to play for Australia in two different codes and not too many people have done it in soccer and rugby league. I think it’s something I’ll cherish forever and probably something that won’t really hit me until I retire one day.” The call-up was earned on club form: Gallagher averaged 177 metres per game and broke 34 tackles this season as she helped the Raiders to their maiden finals appearance.
With Skinner facing selection decisions across the squad for the semi-final, Gallagher was happy simply to stay in camp and learn. “I think just to be around the girls that are in camp and just really learn off them and soak up as much as I can,” she said. “To be able to play with the players like Tamika Upton, Tarryn Aiken, Isabelle Kelly, they’re players I look up to, so it’s been an awesome week.” A 124-6 pool game is an unusual place for a debut story to land, but that is the point of the morning after: the record will sit in the book, and the week Gallagher had is the part of Sunday the book does not record.
Tamika Upton Ends The Drought, And The Halves Dilemma Sharpens
By Tamika Upton’s standards, this World Cup had been lean. The three-time Dally M Player of the Year owns 61 tries in 64 NRLW games, including 15 in 14 matches for Brisbane this year, yet she had scored just two of the Jillaroos’ 43 pool tries and none at all in the wins over Samoa and England, despite 12 try assists across the three games. The drought ended in the 55th minute against Wales, when she crossed for Australia’s 17th try, and she scored again 13 minutes later following a Southwell break up the middle. Upton was clear that the drought had never been the point. “I honestly don’t think about it when I’m actually playing and looking for options,” she told NRL.com. “I feel like I’m a pass-first player. I’m always looking to see if my winger is open or my centre is open. If you look at the players we have in this team, if I can help put someone like Jaime Chapman in a bit of space she’s going to score.”
Upton also answered the question that follows any team winning by 118 points: whether the Jillaroos can even measure themselves in games like this. “Yes we have been able to hold possession but we work very hard during the week at training and do a lot of defence too,” she said. “We have girls in our team who pride themselves on being that wall. Although we haven’t seen too much of it just yet I can assure you it is a big focus for us each session.” The selection question she would not answer is the one Skinner must. Southwell sat out the Samoa and England games, then set a Jillaroos record with 44 points against Wales in her first halves pairing with Tarryn Aiken. Jocelyn Kelleher, who was rested for the Wales game, had set the previous record of 26 points only a week earlier with two tries and nine goals. Skinner, speaking after the match, kept all three doors open: “We’ve got talent across the park in all positions, and we’ll review this week and start looking at next week, probably as soon as we get home tonight. We’re here to win a World Cup, and it takes 23 girls to win a World Cup.” Upton, asked to pick, stayed diplomatic: “We work really well together as a spine in all those combinations at training. So whoever they want to go with, we will all respect. Tarryn is obviously a massive voice out there, but everyone has a role in what shape we play with.”
Wales Took A Legacy Home, Fiji Brings A First Semi-Final
A day later, the record book has also settled the widest context of Sunday’s score. Chapman’s sixth try, in the last minute, took Australia past the 122-8 win Denmark’s men recorded over Sweden in 2012, which means 124 points is now the highest team score in international rugby league history, in either the men’s or women’s game. The 118-point margin stands as the biggest in the women’s international game; France’s men, 120-0 winners over Serbia in 2003, still hold the largest margin overall. Wales, beaten 70-6 by England and 76-0 by Samoa earlier in the tournament, were playing their first World Cup and just their 16th Test since their first fixture in 2021, and their captain chose to frame the week by what it builds. “We just wanted to create a legacy back home for young girls coming through, and I think we did that,” Bethan Dainton said. “The scorelines haven’t been in our favour but no one gave up and I am so proud of the girls.” Paige Travis’s try, the first points any side had scored against Australia at this tournament, remains the Welsh moment of the day.
What comes next is a different test entirely. Fiji’s Bulikula beat France 54-6 on the Gold Coast on Saturday to reach the semi-finals at their first ever World Cup, with Tahlia Marshall scoring a double, front-rower Latisha Smythe named player of the match, and captain Cassie Staples crediting France for challenging Fiji in exactly the areas they need to fix before Sunday. Fiji and Samoa have both reached the women’s semi-finals for the first time, and the one injury watch out of the Fiji camp is Maria Paseka, who hurt her leg again against France after returning from a leg injury to score in the 20th minute. The Bulikula’s own official highlights show the pace Australia will have to handle:
Australia face Fiji at Allianz Stadium in Sydney on Sunday, November 8, with a place in the November 15 final in Brisbane on the line, while New Zealand play Samoa in the other semi-final in Newcastle. The Jillaroos will arrive as three-time defending champions with a record score behind them, a debutant living her 72-hour week, a fullback scoring again, and three in-form halves for two jerseys. Sunday’s number is already history. The semi-final is where this team finds out what the number was worth.
