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Black Ferns Sevens win fourth straight gold in Vancouver with tight win over Australia
The Black Ferns Sevens have won their fourth straight World Rugby Sevens Series event after defeating Australia 19-12 to extend their lead at the top of the Sevens circuit.
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The Black Ferns qualified for the final after being pushed to the brink by hosts Canada in the quarter-final, who had a chance to win late but defence held a 10-5 win for New Zealand.
In the semi-final New Zealand smashed France 36-5 to set up the 21st Cup final with rivals Australia. It was a chaotic start with both sides making jittery errors early.
An early error from Charlotte Caslick gave the Black Ferns their first opportunity, from the scrum the Australian defence stayed strong until a drop ball from Stacey Waaka on the right edge handed possession back.
It took one phase for another uncharacteristic Caslick error handed possession straight back after a scrum play went wrong.
The Black Ferns looked to have capitalised on the mistake through whiz kid Jorja Miller who burst through multiple tackles to get into the in-goal but was stopped by a miraculous tackle by Maddison Levi in the process of putting the ball down.
Levi punched the ball out much to the dismay of the 19-year-old Sevens star, but a penalty won by Waaka gave the Black Ferns another shot and World Cup hero Sarah Hirini took a quick tap to score under the posts and take a 7-0 lead.
PLOT TWIST AFTER PLOT TWIST 👀
ADVERTISEMENTWhat a match we have on our hands in Vancouver!#HSBC7s | #Canada7s pic.twitter.com/cdja6yZZxl
— World Rugby 7s (@WorldRugby7s) March 6, 2023
Australia hit back with some promising play with Caslick taking charge, before Madison Ashby cut through past Hirini with some smart footwork to level scores 7-all.
After the restart the Ferns chanced their arm right on halftime and some playmaking from Hirini on the right edge found Waaka with an offload around the corner down a tight corridor. A smiling Waaka raced away 60 metres to give the Ferns a 14-7 lead at half-time.
Hirini again sparked another break early in the second half as the Ferns piled on the pressure. Some brilliant footwork from Shiray Kaka laid a platform and Miller was given another chance to score, this time coasting over to extend the lead to 19-7.
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Kaka was rocked with a massive hit by Maddison Levi in the lead up and did well to hang onto possession as the Black Ferns scored on the next phase.
Penalties allowed Australia to get back into Ferns’ territory and it was Caslick’s ball playing that created some momentum that was finished off by the No 7 to close the gap to 19-12.
With two minutes remaining the Black Ferns were penalised for going off feet at their own ruck, but their defence held Australia off and forced a long kick.
What an eventful final 🤯@nz_sevens are your #Canada7s Champions#HSBC7s pic.twitter.com/PsjLEzUqne
— World Rugby 7s (@WorldRugby7s) March 6, 2023
Theresa Fitzpatrick came up with a key ruck penalty to win back possession with 40 seconds left to spoil the Australians last chance.
Hirini was handed player of the final which included a key try and multiple breaks to get the Ferns attack firing.
After losing to Australia in the final of the Dubai leg, the Black Ferns Sevens have now taken gold in Cape Town, Hamilton, Sydney and now Vancouver.
In the men’s final, Argentina took on France and claimed a second title in the 2022/23 series with a 33-21 win.
Comments on RugbyPass
An on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
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