Prop scores hat-trick as Australia stun France in women's rugby

Prop Eva Karpani thundered over for a hat-trick of tries as Australia upset France 29-20 in their women's WXV1 tournament test in Dunedin on Saturday.

It followed New Zealand's 70-7 trouncing of Wales and left England as the only unbeaten team after two full rounds of the top-tier six-nation tournament.

Third-ranked France were expected to make it two wins from two after their shock 18-17 opening-round defeat of New Zealand last week.

However, they produced an error-prone performance against the fifth-ranked Wallaroos, who were inspired by 27-year-old Karpani, the tighthead prop who was devastating from close to the try line.

Her opening score was followed by another to Georgina Friedrichs to put Australia 12-10 ahead at halftime.

Karpani crossed twice after the interval to open up a 19-point lead before France finished strongly through tries to hooker Elisa Riffonneau and replacement winger Gabrielle Vernier.

France captain Manae Feleu said her side left their run too late in suffering their first loss to Australia since 2010.

"It was very physical. We knew the Australians were going to be waiting for us in the contacts. They were there and we didn't meet them," said Feleu, whose team will play Canada in their final round match next week.

"The last minutes of the game showed that we can get our game back but it was too late."

World champions New Zealand rebounded from their opening loss to the French with a rampant 12-try performance.

Wingers Ruby Tui and Mererangi Paul scored seven tries between them as the Black Ferns played with speed and vision, regularly out-flanking their opponents when the ball was passed wide.

World Cup star Tui bagged four tries within the space of 13 minutes during a dizzying period of play midway through the first half as the tournament hosts took a 27-0 lead into half-time.

FASCINATING CONTEST

It sets up a fascinating contest in the final round of matches next week, when New Zealand will face England in Auckland, in a rematch of last year's World Cup final.

Coach Allan Bunting warned his team to expect far stiffer opposition from the top-ranked English, who have swept aside Australia and Canada in their first two games at the tournament.

"We're going to come up against a pretty well-oiled English team next week so we're going to have to be a bit smarter with how we play," Bunting said.