{"id":113993,"date":"2025-11-02T12:07:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T12:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/113993\/"},"modified":"2025-11-02T12:07:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T12:07:14","slug":"jillaroos-def-kiwi-ferns-abbi-church-stars-on-debut-pacific-championships-jessica-sergis-annessa-biddle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/113993\/","title":{"rendered":"Jillaroos def. Kiwi Ferns, Abbi Church stars on debut, Pacific Championships, Jessica Sergis, Annessa Biddle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Abbi Church starred on debut after filling in for superstar Tamika Upton as the Jillaroos held off a brave Kiwi Ferns side 10-4 in a Pacific Championships thriller at Eden Park. <\/p>\n

Church was a late inclusion at fullback for the injured Upton, but finished with 161 run metres, a tackle bust and the match winning try in the second half. <\/p>\n

Jessica Sergis was also excellent for the visitors with 63 run metres, six tackle busts, an offload, a linebreak, nine tackles and the first try of the afternoon. <\/p>\n

Watch every game of the 2025 Pacific Championships LIVE on FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1<\/a>.<\/p>\n

MATCH CENTRE: Kiwi Ferns vs Australia Jillaroos teams, scores, videos, updates<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Jillaroos copped an early blow with Keeley Davis leaving the field with a shoulder injury in just the second minute, with Quincy Dodd replacing her in jersey No.14. <\/p>\n

Both sides threw everything at each other in an enthralling first half-hour before replacement fullback Abbi Church denied New Zealand star Apii Nicholls the first try with a desperation play. <\/p>\n

Australia finally broke the deadlock in the 33rd minute when winger Sergis showed her class and strength to barge over for the first try of the game. <\/p>\n

Tiana Penitani Gray got a quick play the ball, with Church darting to the short-side before finding Sergis, who brushed off multiple defenders to dot down in the corner and the Jillaroos held a 6-0 advantage into the break. <\/p>\n

Church picked up where she left off in the second half of an impressive debut by scoring to give the Jillaroos a 10-0 lead. <\/p>\n

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Abbi Church and Jessica Sergis scored for the Jillaroos.Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n

Playmaker Jesse Southwell produced a pinpoint grubber, with Nicholls putting her body on the line before spilling the ball and Church was on the spot to make her pay.<\/p>\n

However, the Kiwi Ferns hit back with Annessa Biddle making the Jillaroos rue a lapse in concentration. <\/p>\n

Australia were caught ball watching and looked to the referee after play broke down, before Biddle took off to run 70 metres and hold off Ali Brigginshaw for a stunning try to make it 10-4. <\/p>\n

Watch the 2025 Rugby League Ashes LIVE with no ad-breaks in play on FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Jarvo causes a ruckus at the Ashes! | 01:33<\/p>\n

Abigail Roache nearly pulled off a miracle try to square the scores, but replays showed she dotted down on the dead ball line, as the Jillaroos survived a massive scare. <\/p>\n

In a late blow Kiwi Ferns winger Leianne Tufuga left the field for a HIA as the hosts tried desperately to tie up the game. <\/p>\n

Grand final hero Mele Hufanga found space down the left edge, but her pass went behind Biddle in a huge missed opportunity for the Kiwi Ferns. <\/p>\n

New Zealand were brave, but Church\u2019s try on debut proved the difference as the Jillaroos held on to remain undefeated heading into next week\u2019s final against the same team. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Abbi Church starred on debut after filling in for superstar Tamika Upton as the Jillaroos held off a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":113994,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[79738,81277,85,2652,81265,19262,81278,81276,81268,1467,81272,81267,81274,81263,81273,81269,56134,66886,8061,81266,81275,81270,111,139,69,2659,62769,81264,69671,79720,81271,213,33826,79745,2821],"class_list":["post-113993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-abbi-church","tag-annessa-biddle","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-ball-watching","tag-cameron-munster","tag-church-stars","tag-dead-ball-line","tag-desperation-play","tag-eden-park","tag-final-preview","tag-grand-final-hero","tag-hes-a-pommy","tag-jesse-southwell","tag-jessica-sergis","tag-keeley-davis","tag-kevin-walters","tag-kiwi-ferns","tag-mark-st-john","tag-match-centre","tag-miracle-try","tag-multiple-defenders","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-oceania","tag-pacific-championships","tag-player-ratings","tag-rugby-league-ashes-live","tag-run-metres","tag-shoulder-injury","tag-sports","tag-tackle-busts","tag-tamika-upton","tag-victoria"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113993\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}