The Blacks Ferns kicked off their international season in impressive fashion with a 40-22 win over host nation Canada in the first round of the Women's Super Series on Saturday, while world champions England began with an equally comfortable 39-13 win against the USA.

“It has given us a chance to see where we are at,” reflected assistant Black Ferns coach Reuben Samuels. “There’s some clear things we need to work on moving forward but all in all the girls dug deep and fought well in conditions they're not used to and ultimately came away with the result.

“Some girls have only been out of secondary school rugby for a year so to play at this level and get some minutes on the board is huge.”

Honey Hireme lit up the first match of the round-robin tournament with a stunning brace of solo tries while Charlene Halapua, Chelsea Alley, Renee Wickliffe, Victoria Subritzki-Nafatali and replacement Janna Vaughan also dotted down in the seven tries to four victory.

“It wasn’t the result we expected but for us it was our first game in nearly a year,” said Canada women's coach Francois Ratier. “The crowd was great, we would have preferred winning the game but we will have another chance on Wednesday and on 5 July.”

As a starting point for Women's Rugby World Cup 2017 preparations, the Super Series has afforded all four teams the chance to blood new players and try out different combinations.

While understandably disappointed to be on the losing side, Julia Folk, one of 10 Canadian debutants, was thrilled to have won her first cap after coming off the bench late on.

“It was unreal to be up there with such amazing players, being able to put in what I could offer and to inject some pace into the line-up and do the best I can,” she said. “It was amazing to be able to play for my country.”

Lund gets dream start

Simon Middleton’s reign in charge of the England women’s 15s team – he doubles up as head coach of the sevens team – got off to a winning start thanks to a brace of tries from Sarah McKenna and further touchdowns from Emily Scott, Kay Wilson, Rowena Burnfield, Marlie Packer and debutant Rachel Lund, who scored three minutes after coming on to win her first cap.

“This was a solid start with a performance that had lots of positives as well as lots still to come. We have worked hard on our decision making and focussed on playing with heads up and attacking the space. I thought we did this extremely well, particularly in the first half,” said Middleton.

“We did look a bit rusty and at times our execution just fell a touch short of what we were looking for, but given the lack of time we have had together this is to be expected. Having said that we pulled some really good passages of play together particularly in the first half and scored some excellent team tries.

“It was also great to get our two new caps Lark Davies and Rachael Lund on the field and what a dream start with Lund scoring with her first touch of the ball after a lineout thrown by Lark.

“Recovery will be the key now as we will undoubtedly face a sterner test against a New Zealand side that dispatched Canada convincingly on Saturday without really looking at their best. We’ll be looking to field some of our more experienced players on Wednesday to add fresh legs and build on a good start.”

Women’s Rugby Super Series remaining fixtures:

July 1: New Zealand v England, kick-off 16:00, Canada v USA, kick-off 18:30, Red Deer, Red Deer Rugby Club
July 5: New Zealand v USA, kick-off 16:00, Canada v England, kick-off 18:30, Edmonton, Ellerslie Rugby Park 

Main picture credit: Ron LeBlanc