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Dupont’s France and Levi’s Australia triumph in SVNS Series Grand Final
By Finn Morton
The Australia women’s team and Antoine Dupont’s France are the overall champions on the SVNS Series in 2023/24 after recording famous wins at Madrid’s Civitas Metropolitano on Sunday evening.
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With the first-ever Grand Final event in Spain’s capital being a winners-take-all event, the three-day tournament at the home of Atletico Madrid had almost a Rugby World Cup or European football atmosphere to it.
There were some all-time classic knockout matches as teams look to hang on to their dream of becoming champions of the rugby sevens in the world, but in the end, only one team could stand above the rest.
Australia knocked League winners New Zealand out of Championship Final contention in a thrilling semi-final, with Tia Hinds converting a long-range conversion after the siren to snatch a famous win.
After moving on to the big dance, the Aussies set their sights on a blockbuster Final against France. Les Bleues Sevens has proven to be a tough opponent for the likes of Australia and New Zealand this season, and that remained true with silverware on the line.
With the two teams locked at 7-all at the break, it could’ve gone either way, but a Maddison Levi hat-trick ensured the world title was going home with Australia. The women in gold claimed their first Cup final win in the Series since Cape Town in December.
“We’re finally getting some pay for our hard work which is good,” Levi told RugbyPass. “So close to the Olympics, we’re finally building.
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“Having not beaten New Zealand since Perth, it’s always a tough battle between the two and I think for it to finally just click and just to work hard, it just proves… that we’ve got it.”
It would’ve been impossible to wipe the smile off Maddi Levi’s face. The try-scoring phenomenon was walked around the field at the iconic European football venue, moving from teammate to teammate with an interview or two in between.
Levi, 22, had just been crowned the SVNS Series top try scorer. But rather than talk too much about the individual accolade, the Australian was beaming with joy when talking about the team’s incredible accomplishment.
“I think they’ve done really well with the structure. Sevens is a rollercoaster and unfortunately you can’t peak all the time being an athlete,” Levi added.
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“We have full trust and full faith in our coaches and I think what they’re doing out there, it’s really showing on the field.
“The willingness and the courage for each and every one to dig deep at training – we call it ‘cronning.’ The hard work, sweat and tears is able to put on performances like that out here.”
SVNS Champions 2024 🏆#HSBCSVNS | #HSBCSVNSMAD pic.twitter.com/YC13XwrBNH
— HSBC SVNS (@SVNSSeries) June 2, 2024
After the women’s Championship Final, France and Argentina made their way onto the field for the men’s decider. This match pitted the League-winning Argentina against a confident French outfit that included Antoine Dupont.
It was a tense stat to the contest. The crowd was truly something special, with thousands of Argentinians trading blows with an equally-as-passionate group of French supporters.
Los Pumas Sevens eventually opened the scoring in the sixth minute through Luciano Gonzalez but it was all Les Bleus Sevens from there.
France piled on 19 unanswered points with Stephen Parez do Martin, Jefferson-Lee Joseph and Paulin Riva all scoring tries.
After ending their 19-year Cup final drought earlier this season in Los Angeles, France has backed up those heroics on the SVNS Series’ biggest stage and they can now call themselves world champions.
“I was honestly a bit worried before my first tournament, so I tried to work very hard to be ready for Vancouver and Los Angeles but there was a very good team spirit in the team so it was easy to join them,” Antoine Dupont said on stage.
“I hope it will be a huge tournament for us,” he added when asked about the Olympics. “Obviously we want to win, but we’re not the only team, so we have two months to work as hard as we can to be ready and to try and lift the trophy in July.”
Relive all of the SVNS Madrid action for free on RugbyPass TV. To watch the Grand Final on demand, register HERE.
Dupont sees opportunities where there wasn’t one until he makes it so. Utter class.