New Zealand have sealed a spot in the Rugby League World Cup women's semi-finals, with a scratchy 34-4 win over Cook Islands at York.
With just one more pool game remaining- against defending champions Australia - and two wins now under their belt, the Kiwi Ferns cannot be deprived of progress to the next stage.
But while the Jillaroos dispatched the plucky Pacific Islanders 74-0 in their tournament opener, the Ferns struggled to impose themselves, leading only 14-0 at halftime and conceding the Cooks' first points at a World Cup tournament.
Cook Islands suffered a massive blow early, when they lost captain and former Kiwi Fern Kimiora Breayley-Nati to concussion in the opening minutes, but never gave up, eventually rewarded with a historic try to Mackenzie Wiki - daughter of Kiwis legend Ruben Wiki.
Led by NRLW Dally M Medal winner Raecene McGregor, who scored two tries, New Zealand probably held back some of their frontline players for Australia on Friday (NZ time).
Debutant winger Mele Hufanga grabbed a second-half try double and probably should have had another, when McGregor elected to keep the ball with her wide-open teammate looming outside her.
"We got the win tonight, which is what we were aiming to do, but we've got a lot of work with our group," said coach Ricky Henry. "We'll go away from this game, hopefully with no injuries, and try to prepare for Australia.
"At the moment, after tonight's performance, we were pretty clunky. We didn't execute what we wanted to and let ourselves down a little bit.
"We'll go away and work on that and try and get it right by [Friday]."
Three-time champions New Zealand have met Australia in the last three World Cup finals, with the Jillaroos emerging on top in the last two.
The Ferns swept France 46-0 in their tournament opener, but the Aussie women have exactly doubled that score against the same opposition, 92-0.
New Zealand 34 (R McGregor 2, Hufanga 2, Rota, Hall & Nu'uausala tries; Clarke 3 conversions) Cook Islands 4 (Wiki try)
