Wales’ celebrations are short-lived. Nizza sells an outrageous dummy and runs the 30m home unopposed.

Seven minutes remaining for Australia to score more than 16 points and take the all-time winning margin record from France.

The loudest cheer of the afternoon in Commbank Stadium is for a Wales try! Preston drops the ball on her right boot and weights it perfectly for Travis to steam through on the right edge and win the race for the touchdown. Preston goes back and dabs over the extras for good measure.

Delight for Wales – the first team to breach this Australian defence all world cup!

It was a long time coming but Tamika Upton has finally come to the party. Remarkably, that is the superstar’s first world cup try. The Jillaroos bring up three figures and set a new women’s world cup record.

The Jillaroos are not taking their foot off the gas.

The host broadcaster is now paying more attention to the raucous crowd building outside for the upcoming Lebanon v France clash in the men’s competition as Church rounds off a crisp catch-and-pass drill from left to right.

Southwell finally misses, at the 14th attempt! It was a kick for goal from the touchline on the right, and it was online, but died just short of the crossbar.

Disciplined, efficient, and merciless. The Jillaroos are treating Wales as little more than training cones.

Wales withstand the initial raid but they still don’t get to use the ball as they knock on a bomb on the last tackle. Chapman forces her way over for a fourth try of the afternoon shortly after the resulting scrum.

Southwell’s 13 successful kicks is a new record, one of many being set today.

Two drives, two tries, this one straight from the restart. Southwell is now 12/12 from the tee.

One drive, one score. A new half, the same relentless Jillaroos.

Every bit as emphatic as the scoreline suggests. The Jillaroos are on course to smash all sorts of records.

They can do it structured and they can do it in broken field. A conventional try seems in the offing down the left after good work from Nizza to set up Kelly, but the skipper comes inside and the ball gets recycled to the right where Paki straightens up and crashes over near the right corner.

Australia now have their highest ever first-half score.

They’re not overcomplicating things, the Jillaroos. They keep accepting the deep restart kicks, returning them hard up the guts for three or four tackles, then inviting the backs to strike – which Sergis does to outrageous effect, weaving her way along the right touchline and carving infield on a wicked individual run that ends underneath the crossbar.

Wales haven’t had possession in well over 10 minutes.

Chapman has a hat-trick! Whenever Australia get the ball they get a roll on. The forwards are eating up metres, especially after contact, the play-the-ball is quick, Aiken and Southwell are smart in the halves, and the outside strike is ruthless. This is brutal from the Jillaroos.

Wales haven’t seen the ball in ages, and they’re unlikely to see it again all afternoon at this rate. Kezie Apps is the latest to get in on the act.

Too strong, too quick, too skilful. This time the Australian forwards power down the middle of Commbank Stadium, Aiken spots the overlap on the right, jabs a lofted kick for Church and Sergis to compete for, and it’s the latter who marks, resists a tackle and touches down.

Southwell continues her flawless afternoon off the tee with her first challenging conversion attempt, just inside the right touchline.

Mullen irons out Church to gain a modicum of revenge for the previous play. It forces the Jillaroos to kick on the last, which Aiken does, and Wales fail to deal with the bomb on their own line. Southwell crumbs and dives over for yet another score.

A Southwell grubber forces a line dropout, which is sent deep towards Church, who builds up a head of steam, breaks through the double tackle of Lewis and Cussons, spins away from a third effort and careens behind the defensive line and under the crossbar. That was seriously impressive.

That’s three tries from the last three drives for the Jillaroos. This attack was a little disjointed until Southwell floated a beautiful long cutout pass to Chapman, and from 40m out the flying winger does the rest.

Southwell kicks her third simple conversion of the afternoon.

Now that was all a bit too easy. Catch and pass from right to left on their own 40m line from the Jillaroos, creating a glimmer of space for Chapman to dash into, and the winger seizes the opportunity, going through the gears to saunter in for another try.

Wales complete another set without drama, again inviting Australia to come at them from deep. Chapman does just that down the left wing, setting up front foot ball. Weale then busts the line with serious force, fending off Burnell with one hand, offloading to Kernick with the other, and the back rower jogs under the posts for the opening score.

The final match of the pool phase is under way in Sydney…

1. Leanne Burnell,⁠ ⁠⁠2. Zoe Heeley,⁠ ⁠⁠3. Jade Mullen, 4. Hannah Bluck, 5. Siân Williams, 6. Ffion Lewis, 7. Tayla Preston, ⁠⁠8. Agnes Wood, ⁠⁠9. Carys Marsh, 10. Emily Hughes, 11. Georgia Cussons, ⁠⁠12. Paige Travis, 13. Bethan Dainton (capt).

Interchange: 14. Kathryn Salter, 15. Erin Williams, ⁠⁠16. Gracie Hobbs, ⁠⁠17. Lucia Davies.

Replacement: 18. Dani McGifford

1. Tamika Upton, 2. Jaime Chapman, 3. Jessica Sergis, 4. Isabelle Kelly (c), 5. Abbi Church, 6. Jesse Southwell, 7. Tarryn Aiken, 8. Ellie Johnston, 9. Quincy Dodd, 10. Makenzie Weale, 11. Kezie Apps, 12. Sariah Paki, 13. Olivia Kernick.

Interchange: 14. Keeley Nizza, 15. Keilee Joseph, 16. Sarah Togatuki, 22. Sheridan Gallagher.

Replacement: 19. Olivia Higgins

Hello everybody and welcome to live coverage of Australia v Wales in the 2026 women’s Rugby League World Cup. Kick-off at Commbank Stadium in Sydney is from 3.40pm local time (4.40am GMT).

Pairings in international sport are rarely this one-sided. The Jillaroos are the three-time defending world cup champions, number one ranked team in the world, and they have suffered only one defeat since 2016.

Wales meanwhile only played their first official Test five years ago, and this is just their 16th fixture.

In the tournament so far Australia have yet to concede even a single point, Wales have scored only six. England dismantled Wales 70-6 in round one, then themselves were taken apart by Australia 78-0 in round two.

The Jillaroos’ record victory of 92-0 against France in 2022 is under serious threat. The women’s international record scoreline of France 116-0 Serbia from 2023 could also be given a run for its money.

I’ll be back with final team lists and more shortly. Please send me your emails and keep me company throughout the afternoon. The address is jonathan.howcroft.freelance@theguardian.com.