I’d love to be writing how amazing it felt to beat the Black Ferns, it just wasn’t to be at the weekend.

We respect the Haka, what it stands for, and to lead the team out and face it was a special experience.

It all seems to happen in the blink of an eye, the whole day just flies by, you spend all week building up to it, training really hard and then we are out there singing the anthems and into the game.

Breakfast with Black Ferns

I thought we had a really good start, we were 15 minute in and it had been all us. I thinking ‘we’re alright here’.

We dominated up front, the set piece was superb, we just couldn’t capitalise, and when they got a sniff of possession, they were relentless.

During our review, we watched seven clips back where there was opportunity to score, we only took two, and there were probably more if we delve a little deeper.

So the positive is we are creating chances, it is about converting them into points now.

I have to say, the Black Ferns have taken huge leaps forward when you look at where they were when they came over to play England and France last year.

It’s funny because we are now sharing a hotel with them back up in Whangarei, one minute we’re fierce rivals and the next we’re sharing conversations over breakfast.

France are also in the hotel, and hopefully it will be a good game for them against FiJi. I think France will take it after their performance against England last weekend, which may help us.

But what’s great is that our fate is in our own hands, if we beat Australia we are through to the quarter-finals, it’s that simple.

It’s so exciting and it’s down to us players to make sure we perform and get the result.

We know they’re going to bring huge physicality, if we front up in that area, it’ll be a good day for us.

We are encouraged after seeing what Scotland did against them, and they were unlucky not to win at the end.

I really felt Scotland’s heartbreak and I’m sure we can learn a lot from that game.

Monday was a travel day for us and as you would expect we’ve got a few sore bodies, but touch wood, no injuries.

This is our fourth week here and we’re at that point where it’s about managing and looking after our bodies and making sure we recover so we’re ready to go again.

We also had Tuesday as a down day to mentally switch off.

Some of the girls went up to the Bay of Islands and took a boat trip, others stayed around the harbour, having nice coffee and chilling.

It’s so important we have that as we’re living in each other’s pockets, it’s a lot of time together and while everyone is getting on great, sometimes it’s nice to think about something else.

Friendly fire

We have a fines committee every week, there are lots of different fines, you can get fined for wearing the wrong kit, being late, saying or doing something stupid.

I think the girls take a lot of pleasure in fining management for any slip ups. It’s great and it’s all with good humour and we are all in it together.

One fine this week goes to Keira Bevan who tackled Jaz (Jasmine Joyce) in the New Zealand game. She’s taken stick all week for that.

The weekend will hopefully see me win my 50th cap for Wales, and while I’m personally chuffed, winning is the most important thing for us.

I won my first cap in 2016 and I never dreamed that I would reach this milestone.

It’s been a whirlwind six years, I don’t know where they’ve gone. I’ve seen a lot of change, a lot of management, coaches and backroom staff.

Just 18 months ago, we didn’t know what was going to be next for Wales women’s rugby, but now we’re at the World Cup as full-time professionals.

I’ve had the best times of my life in a Welsh shirt, but I’ve also had some of the worst.

I will always cherish every one of my caps, but there have been some really dark times and it’s just really nice to receive my 50th when things are in a good spot and I’ll remember it as a high.

The most rewarding thing for me is hearing girls say ‘I want to be a professional rugby player when I grow up’.

We want to inspire and make our nation proud. Hopefully we can do that on Saturday.

Siwan Lillicrap was talking to BBC Sport Wales’ Ceri Coleman-Phillips.