Kiwi Ferns caught out by Jillaroos' 'special plays'

Kiwi Ferns coach Justin Morgan was left to lament a lack of game management after his side succumbed 28-8 to a committed Jillaroos side which produced a couple of 'special plays' to blow the game open at WIN Stadium.

The Kiwi Ferns enjoyed 75 percent of possession in the opening quarter of the game and mounted plenty of raids but they could not put the finishing touches on their plays.

The Jillaroos weathered the storm and came up with two tries in the space of five minutes to take control.

The home side's third try came from their first trick play of the night as Kirra Dibb kicked from a scrum win on her own side of halfway and Jess Sergis chased it through to score.

They repeated the dose in the second half when captain Ali Brigginshaw kicked from a scrum win for speedster Shakiah Tungai to score.

Both kicks caught the Kiwi Ferns off guard and it led Morgan to highlight the importance of taking key moments when they're on offer.

"I thought they were a couple of special plays," he conceded.

"Unfortunately it bounced into their arms, they're tough to defend, those plays.

"It takes a gutsy team to hand the possession over on play zero. They were good tonight.

"It was a good game of footy, both teams had a crack. The amount of possession we had at the start of the game we couldn't convert it into points.

"You get frustrated when you don't get points but the opposition has a bucket load of energy as well.

"If you get that possession anywhere else in the game you generally score. We'll go away, lick our wounds and get ready for the next one."

Morgan said the Kiwi Ferns' latest 20-point loss shouldn't widen the gap between the two nations after a two-point margin last year.

New Zealand's recent record of defeats in Test matches against the Jillaroos stretches to 2016.

"They're always great battles, I know the scoreline looks like they were dominant on the scoreboard but I thought it was a really good tussle," Morgan said.

He added that players were still learning certain aspects of the game and require further Test matches on the representative calendar to do so.

"You hear the phrase game management a lot of the time - it gets dumped on halfbacks whether it's men or women," Morgan said.

"I think a lot of the girls in both games are learning about that management. 

"The more we play the more they're going to get experience. You can show them on video and simulate it in training but you don't get it until you get out there and feel it."