Jazmin Felix-Hotham marks ‘speedy recovery’ with try at SVNS Valladolid

Black Ferns Sevens centre Jazmin Felix-Hotham enjoyed a successful return to the SVNS Series on Friday, playing valuable minutes under the scorching sun in Valladolid. Felix-Hotham missed the previous two stops but was back in the mix for the European events.

Felix-Hotham suffered a broken foot at Vancouver’s BC Place during the regular season, which saw the Olympic gold medallist miss SVNS New York the following weekend and the fan favourite Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens.

But the Black Ferns Sevens received a major boost ahead of the last two World Championship tournaments, with Felix-Hotham named in the travelling squad. Felix-Hotham celebrated the occasion with a try during New Zealand’s 38-7 win over Argentina early on day one.

It was a five-point ballgame at half-time, with Kelsey Teneti and Mahina Paul the two try-scorers for the Black Ferns Sevens. Jorja Miller was next to strike in the 10^th minute, before Felix-Hotham and Katelyn Vahaakolo capped off the emphatic performance.

New Zealand made it two from two around 4:30 pm local time, beating Brazil 40-12. Felix-Hotham provided some impact off the bench, with captain Risi Pouri-Lane and in-form talent Kesley Teneti named among the replacements as well.

“Had a broken foot so couldn’t really do much but it was a speedy recovery,” Felix-Hotham told RugbyPass in Valladolid.

“Very fortunate to have a lot of great people to help me get back fast and help get me back on the Series.

“One of the special things about our team is that if someone goes down, the next person’s ready to step up. For me, watching Jaymie Kolose step up, playing centre, playing big minutes and just seeing her shine on the big stage, I couldn’t be anything but more proud.”

All Blacks Sevens ace Ngarohi McGarvey-Black returned from injury in Valladolid as well, suiting against Uruguay on Friday morning. The 30-year-old slotted four conversions during the shutout 40-0 win and gave a memorable post-match interview immediately after.

McGarvey-Black highlighted how tough it was to play in the scorching Spanish heat, before saying, “this is what we play for. We love the pain.” Temperatures have been around the 30-degree Celsius mark all day but with that has come plenty of blue skies and sunshine.

Felix-Hotham is taking it as a positive, with New Zealand’s windy capital of Wellington recording cooler overnight temperatures of about 10 degrees. Auckland is similar, expecting a low of 11 and a high of 18 on Saturday.

“To be honest I would rather play in beautiful blue skies and sunshine than hailing storms and mid so grateful that it’s this kind of weather and not the opposite,” Felix-Hotham said.

“It’s winter back in New Zealand so it’s good to get back out into the sun, hopefully get a tan.”