New Zealand gained an early psychological boost over their Women’s Rugby World Cup 2017 Pool A opponents Canada with a 28-16 victory in the opening round of the International Women’s Rugby Series.

In a game contested by the first and third nations in the World Rugby Women’s Rankings, hosts New Zealand were pushed hard but a brilliant, two-try display from former World Rugby Women’s Player of the Year Kendra Cocksedge (main picture) ultimately proved the difference at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington.

Earlier on Friday, exactly two months to go until WRWC 2017 gets underway in Ireland, England kicked off the series with an emphatic 53-10 win over Australia at Porirua Park, the Red Roses backing up the success of the men's U20 side against the same opposition at the World Rugby U20 Championship in Georgia the day before.

Next up for New Zealand is a meeting with trans-Tasman rivals Australia in Christchurch on Tuesday, with England and Canada squaring up in the curtain raiser.

England 53-10 Australia

Winger Sarah McKenna helped herself to a hat-trick as England were victorious in their first match against Australia since the sides met in the semi-finals of Women's Rugby World Cup 2010 in London.

Fellow wing Kay Wilson crossed twice, while Izzy Noel-Smith, Abbie Scott, Vicky Fleetwood and Harriet Millar-Mills also went over for tries with Emily Scott adding four conversions.

The vastly more experienced England fell behind to a try from Wallaroos full-back and captain Ashleigh Hewson (pictured). Hewson converted her own try to hand Australia a 7-0 lead.

By the end of the first quarter, though, the Red Roses had posted two tries of their own – both from catch-and-drive moves. Noel-Smith was first to dot down before Scott marked her return to international rugby after a long lay-off with their second.

After the pack made good inroads again, the ball was shipped out to McKenna who crossed for her first and England’s third try on 29 minutes.

Hewson then slotted a penalty for Australia but the Red Roses had the final say of the half when, on the stroke of half-time, the ball went through the hands and Wilson sidestepped the final defender to saunter over.

Constant pressure at the start of the second half resulted in tries for Fleetwood and Millar-Mills. Rachael Burford’s break set up Fleetwood and she had a hand in McKenna’s second on the hour mark with a well-timed pass.

With time almost up, the same combination struck again, a superb crossfield kick from Burford gathered in by McKenna for her hat-trick score.

“There were some really good parts to our game today," said England coach Simon Middleton. “It was our first run out after a very long journey and a tough few days acclimatising. The players are slightly frustrated with a few errors but we’ve got to be pleased with putting on 50 points against a very competitive and physical international side.

“Ahead of our next game we’ll be topping up on our skills but more importantly we’ll be making sure we’re recovered properly. It will be another big challenge against Canada.”

With six debutants in their ranks, Australia coach Paul Verrell believes his team will be all the better for the experience. “Now that those young girls have played that first test match, they understand the level we need to be at. We’ve got two more tests in New Zealand then a six-week lead in at home before we head to Ireland (for the Women’s Rugby World Cup). 

“The way we scored the first try with back-to-back phases shows we have the ability to compete but we need to be able to do it for 80 minutes.”

New Zealand 28-16 Canada

New Zealand overcame a competitive Canadian team on the back of a superb individual display from scrum-half Cocksedge.

The game was balanced on a knife-edge at 14-8 to New Zealand at half-time, but two tries from Cocksedge within 15 minutes of the restart gave the home side some breathing space.

While Cocksedge was winning her 35th cap, it was New Zealand’s most-experienced player and captain, hooker Fiao’o Faamausili, who gave the Black Ferns a dream start when she dotted down at the back of a driving maul after five minutes.

Despite some good Canadian pressure, the Black Ferns extended their lead to 14-0 as full-back Selica Winiata collected her own grubber kick to touch down for a try which Cocksedge converted once again.

With their offloading game and quick ball movement causing the Black Ferns' defence problems, Canada finally crossed when powerful loose forward Jacey Grusnick got on the end of an overlap.

The try went unconverted but Magali Harvey made no mistake with a penalty on the stroke of half-time after a series of infringements at the breakdown resulted in a yellow card for Pip Love.

Despite being a player down, it was New Zealand who got the first points of the second half when Cocksedge dived over, after the forwards had made good ground, and then converted her own try.

After Harvey’s penalty cut the deficit to 21-11, Cocksedge was in again in the 55th minute, capitalising on the space created by Victoria Subritsky-Nafatali’s sin-binning for a high tackle to score a superb solo try and take the lead to 28-11.

Canada were rewarded at the death as Elissa Alarie was able to dive over in the corner after some sustained pressure, but it wasn't enough as the Black Ferns maintained their perfect record of 12 wins and no losses against Canada.

Player of the match Cocksedge was pleased that what they had practiced beforehand had paid off. “We wanted to target that 10 channel and it's where we ended up getting a couple of tries, then it was also good to get it out wide and score a couple there too.”