Tom Sermanni's tenure as Football Ferns coach is off to a smooth start, as the NZ women's team accounted for Tonga 11-0 in the opening match of their OFC Nations Cup campaign in New Caledonia.
Rosie White opened the scoring in the eighth minute and the Ferns put on three more goals in the next six minutes to put the contest beyond doubt quickly. They continued to score at regular intervals throughout the match, played in extreme heat in Noumea.
Sarah Gregorius finished with a hat-trick, while White, Betsy Hassett and Annalie Longo scored a brace each.
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Nations Cup winners will qualify for next year's FIFA Women's World Cup in France and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. New Zealand are shooting for their fourth consecutive Oceania title and sixth overall.
They also faced Tonga in their opening match four years ago, prevailing 16-0.
Sermanni took over the reins last month, after controversial predecessor Andreas Heraf resigned in July.
Austrian-born Heraf was placed on "special leave", after his players lodged a formal protest against his 'negative' coaching methods, also claiming they were bullied.
He responded to that criticism by insisting his departure was part of a "large-scale conspiracy" and the players wanted a "fun" team culture, instead of his high standards and high expectations of professionalism".
Scot Sermanni has previously guided the Australian and US national teams, and most recently coached the Orlando Pride in the US national women's soccer league.
Newshub.
