Late England intercept ends Black Ferns' unbeaten 2026 at Twickenham

England beat the Black Ferns 26-19 at Twickenham, scoring the winning try from an intercept in the last moments of the match.

According to Waatea News, the teams were level at 19-all when New Zealand, attacking for the winning try, lost the ball to the intercept.

That ends a perfect start for new coach Whitney Hansen. According to 1News' preview, the Black Ferns arrived 7-0 for 2026 and were chasing an eighth straight win. Their record under Hansen is now 7-1.

This was also the first meeting between the sides since England won the 2025 World Cup on home soil and took the title off New Zealand. The Black Ferns never met England at that tournament. Canada beat them in the semi-finals, and they finished third by beating France, 1News reported. The rivalry had been off the calendar for nearly two years.

England came in looking beatable. The weekend before, Canada held them to a 26-26 draw in Exeter, ending a 39-match winning streak, 1News reported. The Black Ferns had a chance to hand them a second setback in eight days. They came within one play of doing it.

New Zealand had just beaten Scotland 66-14, and captain Georgia Ponsonby told 1News the Scots had tested them.

"Scotland tested us in some areas which is really cool, particularly in our defence," Ponsonby said. "Last week's performance was good but it's not good enough to beat England."

She added: "We get to play England, the best team in the world, and there's no better way to test your game and see where you sit than getting to come up against them."

Before the match, attack coach Tony Christie told 1News his side "likes to run up from everywhere", but said they were "just being smart around conserving some energy sometimes with our forwards and putting the ball behind our position."