Early twist at SVNS Singapore as Great Britain secure ‘unreal’ win over USA

The stakes couldn’t have been much higher for Great Britain coming into this weekend’s regular season finale on the HSBC SVNS Series in Singapore. Every match is a must-win at the National Stadium, and for GB, that started with a dramatic pool clash with the USA.

Great Britain came into the sixth event of the 2024/25 campaign looking to secure their spot in the top eight ahead of the winner-takes-all World Championship at Los Angeles’s Dignity Health Sports Park on May 3-4. Fiji and Brazil were also in the running for the two places.

In their first pool match on Saturday, the Brits left it agonsingly close against the USA, but a late try to Reneeqa Bonner secured a much-needed 15-12 win. only the top-placed sides from the four pools going directly to the semi-finals, that was a significant score from Bonner.

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Down by two points, GB were dangerously close to the USA’s try line with about one minute left to play, but a knock-on gifted the Americans possession as the full-time hooter began to warm-up. But a match-defining defensive effort with 10 seconds left gave the Brits the ball back.

Playmaker Isla Norman-Bell looked especially dangerous as GB continued to give it their all with so much on the line. Bonner was ultimately the hero, with the 20-year-old diving over for the match-winner in the 16^th minute.

“Just unreal. Absolutely amazing and so happy,” Bonner told RugbyPass.

“I’m so grateful to be able to go out and represent my country and [scoring] the winning try as well for the girls, we needed it so bad.

“It’s a whole team effort, one from 13. I’m so grateful to be with the girls.

“The cohesion we’ve got in this squad is unreal and we really do believe that we have the power to be better and that’s what we’re striving to be every tournament, every game.”

SVNS Series leaders New Zealand have booked their spot at the World Championship alongside Australia, France, Canada, the USA and Japan. Fiji finished second in Vancouver but were still yet to mathematically do what was required to lock in a top-eight spot.

That set up a series of decisive fixtures in Singapore. With Fiji in seventh on the standings before the event, their hard-fought win over Ireland in the first fixture of the tournament put them in good stead, which was followed by Brazil’s shock loss to China.

That made the equation quite simple.

Great Britain had to finish first or second in their pool.

“If, based on selection, if I go I’m going to be absolutely ecstatic,” Bonner said when asked about the prospect of playing at the World Championship.

“Just training hard, playing hard as well and hopefully we can get the scores.”

But it doesn’t get any easier for the Brits, who will face Olympic silver medallists Canada in their second pool stage fixture at 2:54 pm local time.

In the other women’s fixture early on Saturday, Chiaki Saegusa led the way with a crucial double as Japan ran away with a promising 24-12 win over Spain.

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