Auckland, NEW ZEALAND -- It was everything it promised to be and more. An epic 80-minute tug-of-war, with neither side letting up in a match that saw an intense forward battle, barnstorming runs, and a see-sawing scoreline, culminating in the craziest final minutes the tournament had seen so far with the Black Ferns sealing the 25-24 win through a missed France penalty in the final seconds.
It was heartbreak for France and ecstasy for the Black Ferns as halfback Kendra Cocksedge booted the ball into touch following the siren, as New Zealand Rugby released a massive sigh of relief after their side booked their place in the Grand Final in the first tournament to be held in New Zealand.
With just a minute left on the clock and following a frantic final 10-minute period, hearts were in mouths after the TMO spotted dangerous play from Black Ferns replacement prop Santo Taumata almost directly in front of the posts and close to 35m out.
A very kickable penalty for France's No.10 Caroline Drouin, the Black Ferns huddled together and talked strategy for multiple outcomes. As the ball sailed to the left of the upright and into co-captain Kennedy Simon's hands, celebrations began in the stands with New Zealand's title defence still on track.
"I was looking at the kicker and as soon as she hit the ball I was just sort of like 'that's going to in'," Simon said after the match. "But then it didn't and my eyes just lit up and I thought about giving it to Portia but thought no, I know we've got to hold on to it. My heart is still racing now."
With their horror end of year tour -- where the Black Ferns were punished twice by France -- front of mind, the side entered the match with ghosts of the past hanging over their heads. In their toughest encounter so far this tournament, the Black Ferns knew they'd need to be on top of their game, but they remained confident their physicality and running game would get them home in the end.
"Yeah, we had a tough end of year tour last year and so today was just about showing how much we've been able to grow as a group in the last year," lock Maiakawanakaulani Roos said post-game. "Physicality has been a large part of that, and so we just wanted to show up and put our bodies on the line for each other. And yeah, we're lucky enough to come out with the results, so we're really happy about that.
"This whole tournament we've been going hard. What we call our backbone has really been pushing us, and when we needed to regroup, we knew that our trainings were harder than the game, we were put under more pressure at trainings than in the game, so I think that really helped us remain calm, play our game and we kept going hard."
In a tense arm-wrestle, both teams would bash away at each other endlessly in the opening minutes before France would finally find the line for the opening try. With the intensity rising, bodies would be thrown everywhere with the sounds of crunching tackles reaching the ears of fans in the stands as Ruby Tui was lifted and then smashed down hard into the turf. It would result in the first points for the Black Ferns, before they'd benefit again from a Les Bleues mistake to send centre Stacey Fuhler over for their first try and level the scores.
Refusing to go away just minutes before the halftime break, the scoreline would quickly change again with France seeing centre Gabrielle Vernier over the line through some tireless effort from her forward pack.
Heading into the break 17-10 down, the Black Ferns understood exactly what needed to be done in the second to avoid ending their tournament a week too early.
"Just to build our physicality," Roos said when asked about the halftime message. "That's a big part of our game and we just needed to do that and we needed to make space out wide and so as forwards, we knew that we need to execute our role so that we could let our super stars shine on the edge."
The Black Ferns returned to the pitch firing and were right in the faces of Les Bleues. Turning the ball over, centre Theresa Fitzpatrick spotted space in the backfield and sent the ball skidding down field. It would prove to be a pivotal moment of the match.
Chasing the kick hard, Tui flew down the pitch, closing the gap on France's fullback Emilie Boulard. As Boulard struggled to regather the ball before the line, it would continue forward creeping closer to the dead-ball line before Tui would dive down and slam the ball just millimetres from being dead.
"We have to vary our attack with these teams like we can't just expect to win one way kind of thing so all kinds of plays we've got going on and that was the one we chose," Tui said of the try.
"That comes through connections, we've gone through some stuff off the field as a team, we have to have each other's back, we have to trust and we have to action it out there."
The tussle between the sides would continue, with France taking on the Black Ferns midfield but it would be New Zealand who would find the next points with Fitzpatrick running like a heat-seeking missile to take a short ball and charge over the top of France's defence to push the score 22-17. A penalty for offside minutes later would push the lead beyond a converted try and had Black Ferns fans around the stadium on their feet.
There would be another twist in the tale, with Menager earning her second after her side went straight through the middle of New Zealand's defence and crashed over under the posts. Adding the extras, Druoine would make it a one-point ball game with 15 minutes left on the clock.
What would come would be an epic final flurry from both sides as New Zealand worked desperately to keep France from their line, while Les Bleues tried everything to break through and score a match-winning try.
With possession toing-and-froing, and teams moving backwards and forward around the park, a last-minute yellow card to Taumata opened the door for France to steal the victory and take their place in the final against England. It wasn't to be.
Sealing their date with England next week, Black Ferns coach Wayne Smith was proud of his side's efforts and their passion, but was critical their lack of kicking game and their many errors as he turns his mind to the battle his side is to face in the final.
"We've got a lot of heart in the team, a lot of courage to keep playing," Smith said post-match. "I knew we would keep playing, probably got some trouble with it at the start, but it also got us out of trouble. The girls have a huge attacking attitude and it's not always the right thing to do, but it dug us out of a hole today.
"We struggled with our kicking game, there was a fair bit of space in-behind, but that's my fault, we've created such an attacking attitude no one wants to kick in my team. So we have a bit of work to do on that before next week ahead of England in the final.
"We made a lot of mistakes early on and we gave them [France] possession in our half which they used really well, especially with their driving lineouts giving us trouble, and we'll be playing a team next week that'll be the same.
"We weren't really accurate enough, it's a matter of just calming down, being more accurate and it sounds contradictory, but we probably should have played a bit wider on our phase play as well rather than trying to hit in too close. We need courage to do that, but we did it in the second half in the early minutes and it put us into a good position."