You didn't even know that they were on tour? Well, the 44-6 defeat was suffered by the "other" England team - the England Women's rugby league XIII who are in the middle of a post-season tour to New Zealand, who are World Champions in this code as well as our own.
For the rugby league girls the fact that they were unable to record a win in their warm-up game against a regional side - Counties Manukau - was perhaps a warning about what to expect in the test series. Still, they have a chance to put things right in the second test later this week.
Unfortunately our women's union team have rather longer to wait before they can gain revenge for that amazing world cup final last month. Sky TV and the RFU were so impressed and excited by that game - and the tournament as a whole - that a last minute attempts was made to try to get the Black Ferns back to England again for an Autumn test to be played as a "double header" with the men's test next month. Unfortunately, as ScrumQueens reports, it has proved impossible to arrange at such short notice. Trouble is that this is still an amateur sport - you have to consider things like employers, who had already been amazingly generous this year before you start worrying about sport-related costs that the professional game need not concern itself with.
Still, there are some serious positives to come out of this - not the least of which is that Sky were a major instigator of the idea. When a major national broadcaster is chomping at the bit wanting more you know that you are on the verge of something really special. Would it be too much to expect them to maybe show some of the Six Nations - live - next year. The game against France could be worth showing, at the very least
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