Jillaroos beat Wales 124-6, the highest score in international rugby league, as Jaime Chapman scores six tries
Australia's women scored 21 tries in a record 124-6 World Cup win over debutants Wales in Sydney. Jaime Chapman got six, and Fiji wait in the semi-final.
At a glance
- Australia beat Wales 124-6 in Sydney on Sunday, the highest score ever recorded in an international rugby league match.
- Jaime Chapman scored six tries, equalling the record for a women's international; Jess Sergis added four.
- The 118-point margin is a World Cup record for men or women, though France's 120-0 over Serbia in 2003 remains the biggest in any international.
- The Jillaroos play Fiji in the semi-final next Sunday at Sydney Football Stadium.
Australia beat Wales 124-6 at the Women's Rugby League World Cup in Sydney on Sunday, the highest score ever recorded in an international rugby league match. Winger Jaime Chapman scored six tries and the Jillaroos led 60-0 at half-time, the biggest half-time score in World Cup history.
The result sends the defending champions into the semi-finals against Fiji next Sunday. Wales, debutants at the women's World Cup, finished with one try and the warmest cheer of the afternoon.
The records that fell, and the one that survived
| Record | New mark | Old mark |
|---|---|---|
| Highest score in a rugby league international | 124 points | 122, Denmark v Sweden (122-8), 2012 |
| Biggest Jillaroos win | 118 points | 92, v France (92-0), 2022 |
| Biggest winning margin at a men's or women's World Cup | 118 points | 106, Kangaroos v Russia (110-4), 2000 |
| Biggest half-time score at a World Cup | 60-0 | Not listed |
| Tries in a women's international by one player | 6 (Chapman, equalled) | 6 |
Wales's lone try is the reason the all-time margin stayed out of reach. France's 120-0 win over Serbia in 2003 is still the widest gap in any international, by two points.
The Jillaroos managed this in a shorter game, too: the women's match runs 10 minutes less than the men's.
22 line breaks to none
Wales held on for the opening sets. Then Olivia Kernick scored after six minutes, and Chapman's double on the left edge made it 18-0 after 10. Abbi Church and Jesse Southwell scored from close range to make it 30-0 inside 20 minutes.
By half-time Australia had 84 percent of possession and 10 tries, and Wales had had only five sets of tackles. The numbers at the end were even starker:
| Stat | Australia | Wales |
|---|---|---|
| Tries | 21 | 1 |
| Line breaks | 22 | 0 |
| Tackle breaks | 56 | 1 |
| Run metres | More than 2,000 | About a tenth of that |
Jess Sergis added four tries to Chapman's six, while Church, Keilee Joseph and Tamika Upton each scored twice. Joseph ran 226 metres in a 38-minute spell off the bench, and Upton's double brought her first points of the tournament. Southwell, brought in by coach Jess Skinner, also had a big day with the boot.
The moment Wales will remember
The loudest cheer of the second half was for a Welsh try. In the 60th minute, Bulldogs halfback Tayla Preston put through a perfectly weighted kick and Paige Travis collected it to score, the only try Australia conceded in the pool stage. Players on both sides smiled, and the crowd applauded.
Why a scoreline like this is an argument
Results like this reopen an old debate about the gap between the sport's strongest nations and its newcomers. One idea already being discussed is changing the kick-off rules so that a team that has just conceded gets the ball back, which would at least give weaker sides more possession.
Wales were never meant to trouble Australia, who had already qualified. For the Jillaroos, it was a chance to build combinations. The real test starts when Fiji arrive at Sydney Football Stadium next Sunday.
