Australia leads World Championship race after SVNS Valladolid win

Australia have leapfrogged fierce rivals New Zealand into first place on the HSBC SVNS World Championship standings ahead of the season finale. With two of their injured stars watching on from the sidelines, the Aussies beat the USA 27-14 to claim the SVNS Valladolid title.

Tim Walsh only had four substitutes to call upon in the decider, with Maddison Levi and Tia Hinds both missing the match. Australia Sevens confirmed on Saturday that Levi would miss the rest of the tournament after picking up an injury, with the 24-year-old requiring a scan.

Australia lost to the USA during pool play, leaving them on the same side as the Black Ferns Sevens. But after a gutsy fight back to beat the New Zealanders, the Australians made the most of their chance to claim some revenge.

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Heidi Dennis was recognised with Player of the Final honours, with the 21-year-old crossing for a double and making some important stops on defence. Faith Nathan and Teagan Levi also made their mark on the scoreboard, as the eventual champions ran away with a big win.

“It feels awesome. USA are a really strong side, we’ve had awesome battles up against them,” Australia co-captain Isabella Nasser told RugbyPass in Valladolid.

“To go down to them in the pool games, we’re really disappointed. We reviewed hard, we took a lot of accountability individually and as a team and we stuck really tight.

“Then we’re able to put on a really good performance in the final.”

The Australians have moved into top spot on the World Championship standings ahead of SVNS Bordeaux next weekend, which is the final stop of the campaign. Australia have 38 competition points to their name, while New Zealand are a close second with 36.

Whoever wins next week’s tournament at the Stade Atlantique will claim 20 points and that could very well determine who is crowned World Championship winners. It’s all to play for in France, as the Black Ferns Sevens looking to improve on their third-place Valladolid finish.

“I think it was built up anger from the last game. Unlucky [not to] be in the final but we knew we had a point to prove out there and just wanted to finish strong,” Kelsey Teneti told RugbyPass after New Zealand beat Canada in the third-place playoff.

“It’s always a tough game against Aussie. It can go both ways no matter what but I think sevens is just like that and win or lose, they were the better team for today so we just had to come out strong and make sure we finish strong.”