The New Zealand women's rugby team have beaten Canada 40-22 in their opening match of a quadrangular tournament in Calgary.
Honey Hireme Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Nine players made their debuts for the Black Ferns who out scored the hosts seven tries to four.
Winger Honey Hireme scored twice while Charlene Halapua, Chelsea Alley, Renne Wickliffe, Subritski-Nafatali and Janna Vaughn all crossed the line.
The New Zealand captain Fiao'o Fa'amausili said she's proud of her team's strong start to the competition.
"Canada gave it to us in the first 20 minutes. We dug deep and held out."
"We take pride in our breakdown. Our forwards want to muscle up and take that space. It's something we're gonna keep improving on," said Fa'amausili.
The Black Ferns assistant coach Rueben Samuels said his players were fighting fatigue in the warm conditions.
"They did well to pull through a couple of tired moments. The effort they put in to squeeze some more points on and deliver the defence when they needed to, even though a few got through, saw the game out."
The Black Ferns play world champions England on Thursday who earlier defeated the USA 39-13.
"We've got a big day tomorrow recovering," said Fa'amausili, "because that game's in four days time."
"We'll go back and look at our videos. There's areas we need to polish especially in our set pieces, so we'll go from there."
1 - Toka Natua
2 - Fiao'o Fa'amausili (captain)
3 - Aleisha Nelson
4 - Eloise Blackwell
5 - Chamaine Smith
6 - Charlene Halapua
7 - Justine Lavea
8 - Linda Itunu
9 - Kendra Cocksedge
10 - Victoria Subritski-Nafatali
11 - Renee Wickliffe
12 - Chelsea Alley
13 - Stacey Waaka
14 - Honey Hireme
15 - Selica Winiata (vice captain)
16 - Teresa Te Tamaki
17 - Aldora Itunu
18 - Te Kura Ngata-Aerengamate
19 - Angie Sisifa
20 - Lesley Ketu
21 - Emma Jenson
22 - Kiritapu Demant
23 -Janna Vaughn
