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‘Didn’t play like New Zealand’: Black Ferns Sevens survive thrilling opener
Defending world champions New Zealand have opened their new SVNS campaign with an enthralling 19-14 win over newly promoted South Africa in Dubai on a beautiful morning in Dubai.
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South Africa were less than a minute away from what would’ve been an early contender for the upset of the season, and they had New Zealand camped deep within their own half too.
But the Black Ferns Sevens lived up to their status as champions with a clutch effort in defence. After winning a turnover mere metres out from their try line, they made their way down the field.
Fans couldn’t look away as the clash came down to a moment of destiny. Eventually, the match was defined by a passage of individual brilliance from New Zealand captain Sarah Hirini.
Hirini, 30, felt an immense sense of “relief” as the World Sevens Series veteran ran away for a long-range try at the death. There was only about 30 seconds left to play as the Kiwi dotted the ball down.
The full-time whistle sounded soon after which saw the “best team in the world” officially live up to expectations from back home by opening their campaign with a hard-fought win.
“I love it, I love being the best team in the world, that’s what we strive for every day,” Hirini told RugbyPass after the win over South Africa.
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“Wearing the Black Ferns Sevens jersey, you’re expected to win – New Zealand expects you to win every game and it’s great.
“We still won and we’re talking like we potentially lost. That’s pretty crazy to play in a team like that.
“I’m proud to represent this jersey and hope the games are not so close next time but I’m sure they will be. We’re playing Great Britain and Fiji so it doesn’t get any easier.
“We were just making silly errors. We’ve got some of the best players in the world who don’t make those kind of errors.
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“We probably won’t have a game like that again which is nice. We just didn’t play like New Zealand but that’s okay, we’ve got another game to be able to rectify it.”
Playing in a pool alongside Great Britain and Fiji, South Africa showed the rugby world that they’ll be a tough team to beat this season after making their way to the series by promotion.
South Africa are new to the circuit after winning World Rugby’s Challenger Series on home soil earlier this year. With speedster Nadine Roos leading the way, they look more than capable of something special this season.
“Probably not a surprise for us. We watched quite a bit of their footage and knew they were going to be great,” Hirini added.
“They’ve got some amazing footy players – seen some girls play in Japan. We definitely weren’t taking them lightly, we just made quite a few errors that made it hard on ourselves.
“I love when teams come out and play us like that. We want to change the game and the only way it’s going to do that is if we get pushed.
“It was pretty tough and go in that last little bit when they were right on our line and obviously (Nadine) Roos is a pretty good player in getting those chip and chases.
“I’m just so proud. It’s tough to win sevens matches, especially on the World Series at the moment.
“To start a season off with a win is a big tick and we can move on now.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Can’t wait for the article that talks about misogyny in Ireland. Somehow.
11 Go to commentsI would like to see a rule change, when the attacking team is held up over the try line, by allowing the defensive team to restart a goal line drop out releases the pressure for the defensive team, but what if the attacking team had to restart a tap 5m out from the defensive team it gives the attacking team to apply more pressure, there are endless options for the attacking side and it will keep the fans in suspence.
2 Go to commentsLess modern South African males predictably triggered.
11 Go to commentsMy heart is with Quins, but the head is convinced Toulouse have too much. Ntamack is back, his timing and wisdom has been missed.
1 Go to commentsWow, what a starting line up for the Sharks) Tasty up front,kremer vs Tshituka or venter …fiery ,,Lavannini ,,will he knobble etzebeth? Biggest game for belleau?
1 Go to commentsIt was rubbish to watch, Blues weren’t even present. Did what they had to do, nothing more. Should be better next week against canes.
1 Go to commentsI’ve just noticed that this match has an all-French refereeing team. Surely a game like this ought to have a neutral ref? Although looking at the BBC preview of the Saints game, Raynal is also down as reffing that - so there may be some confusion about who is reffing what.
1 Go to commentsIf Havili can play anywhere in the back line, why not first 5. #10.
11 Go to commentsThe dressing room had already left for their summer break before they ran out in Dublin that year, and that’s on the coach. Franco Smith has undoubtedly made progress, particularly their maul, developing squad players and increasing squad depth. And against a very tight budget too. That said they were too lightweight last year and got found out against both Toulon and Munster in consecutive games. Better this season so far but they’ve developed something of a slow start habit occasionally, most notably losing at home to Northampton who played them at their own game. Play offs will ultimately show whether there has been tangible progress on last year, or not…!
2 Go to commentsAustralian Rugby has been a disaster, by not incorporating learning from previous successful campaigns. QLD Reds 2011 - Waratahs 2014. Players, coaches and administrators appoint there representatives for scheduled meetings, organisation’s agreement’s assessments and correspondence. This why a unified Rugby Union under one entity works. Every Rugby nation has taken that path. Was most difficult in the Northern hemisphere with over 100 years of club rugby before the game become professional. Took a lot of humility for those unions to eventually work together.
7 Go to commentsThough Wilson’s sacking was pretty brutal, it wasn’t just down to that Leinster game; Glasgow had a lot of 2nd half collapses that season, in the URC and Europe, and only just scraped into the playoffs. Franco Smith has definitely been an improvement, some players are delivering far more than they did under Wilson.
2 Go to commentsjesus - that front 5!
1 Go to commentsShould be an absolute cracker of a game! Will be great to see DuPont & Ntamack in tandem once again🔥
1 Go to commentsBest team ever…. To have played? These guys are still pressure chokers. Came nowhere when it counted. What a joke
81 Go to commentsMusk defends anonymous terrorism, fascism, threats against individuals and children etc etc But a Rugby club account….lock ‘em up!!!
1 Go to commentsActually the era defining moment came a few years earlier. February 2002 to be precise, when Michael D Higgins as finance minister at the time introduced his sports persons tax relief bill to the dial. As the politicians of the day stated “It seems to be another daft K Club frolic born in Kildare amongst the well-paid professional jockeys with whom the Minister plays golf” and that the scheme represented “a savage uncaring vision of Ireland and one that should be condemned”. The irfu and Leinster would be nowhere near the position they are in today without this key component of the finances.
5 Go to commentsIt is crystal clear that people who make such threats on line should be tried and imprisoned. Those with responsibility in social media companies who don’t facilitate this should be convicted. In real life, I have free speech to approach someone like Reinach and verbally threaten him. I am risking a conviction or a slap but I could do it. In the old days, If someone anonymously threatened someone by letter the police would ask and use evidence from the postal system. Unlike the Post, social media companies have complete instant and legal access to the content in social media. They make money from the data, billions. Yet, they turn a blind eye to terrorism, Nazi-ism and industrial levels of threats against individuals including their address and childrens schools being published online all from ananoymous accounts not real people. They claim free speech. Free speech for anonymous trolls/voilent thugs threatening people under false names? The fault is with the perps but also social media companies who think anonymous personas posting death threats constitutes free speech.
2 Go to commentsSo if this ain’t the best Irish team ever then who exactly is? I don’t remember any other Irish team being this good & winning a series in the Land of the Long White Cloud. Yes I may rip them often for 8 X QF RWC exits & twice not even making it to the QF, but they’re a damn good team who many think can only improve, including me!
81 Go to commentsNot a squeek out of Leinster for weeks about this match. So quiet. The first team have been quitely building for this encounter under Nienaber’s direction. All fresh, all highly motivated. They are expecting a season’s best performance from Northhampton. They will match that. They will be fresher and apparently they will have 80,000 out of the 83,000 shouting for them. I do expect Northhampton to turn up big time. Not to be missed. On a tangent it is evident how the loss of a few Premiership teams has in some respect helped other Premiership teams and England. More quality over less teams makes the teams better, which has a knock on effect on England. Not the only factor contributing to England’s rise but one of them.
5 Go to commentsOur very own monster teddy bear Ox😍💪
17 Go to comments