It was a ruthless first-half performance from the Jillaroos, who capitalised on the field position presented by a succession of errors and ill-discipline from New Zealand- combined with some sluggish defending – for their opening three tries.
Chapman overpowered three defenders on the left wing to open the scoring after just 125 seconds and produced a flying finish from a sharp offload in the same area after Shaylee Bent had sliced through New Zealand’s defence from close range for Australia’s second.
After Jess Sergis went the length of the field for their fourth, albeit with a suspected forward pass in the build-up, Shannon Mato dived over as New Zealand profited from back-to-back infringements from the hosts.
However, normal service quickly resumed, with Chapman evading multiple tackles as she ran 60 metres to complete her hat-trick before slick handling down the right wing allowed Abbi Church to feed Tamika Upton on her inside for a simple score under the posts.
Head coach Jess Skinner’s decision to select Jesse Southwell ahead of Jocelyn Kelleher at stand-off paid off, as she nonchalantly kicked five of her six conversions, including two from the left touchline.
But this was undeniably Chapman’s show, with the 24-year-old, who has faced a succession of injuries, including a spinal fracture in February 2025, and media attention on her personal life, named player of the match.
“She’s so young – it’s quite scary,” said captain Isabelle Kelly. “As a centre, your job is to provide for your winger. Every single time she’s there, she executes and finishes to such a high standard.
“The fact she was able to get that down with three girls on her is incredible. Once you get her strides going, she’s very hard to stop.
“She’s had a lot of stuff going on the last few years and she’s really stepped up and owned that position.”
Australia went completely off the boil in the second half, with Tarryn Aiken – denied by a try-saving tackle from Georgia Hale – producing their only scoring opportunity of note.
New Zealand, to their credit, vastly improved when defending on the front foot but remained frustrating in attack, completing barely half of their sets due to repeated handling errors, loose passing, and a consistent failure to feed stand-off Chantay Kiria-Ratu.
Mackenzie Wiki’s 70th minute try was a deserved, if futile, reward for their second-half efforts.
“Mixed emotions – we obviously came with high hopes of playing really well,” said New Zealand head coach Ricky Henry.
“It was a game of two halves and that’s the frustrating part for us. We were able to get it back together in the second half but it was too little, too late.
“We didn’t handle the speed of the game at the start. They got on top and from there, we couldn’t regroup and get our rhythm.”
