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Maddison Levi and Jorja Miller make SVNS try-scoring history in New York
By Finn Morton
New Zealand’s Jorja Miller and Australia’s Maddison Levi joined exclusive try-scoring clubs on the HSBC SVNS Series in New York, as the semi-final matchups began to take shape on day one at the regular season finale.
Sports Illustrated Stadium is hosting a SVNS Series stop for the first time, with the regular season winners to be decided this weekend. Miller and Levi were the top two players on the RugbyPass SVNS Series MVP leaderboard after five events, and the pair have continued to stand out.
Levi joins Michaela Brake (nee Blyde) and Portia Woodman-Wickliffe as the only women in SVNS Series history to have scored 250 career tries. The 23-year-old is the first Australian and the fastest woman to reach the remarkable career tally.
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Miller has joined Brake, Woodman-Wickliffe and teammate Stacey Waaka as the only Black Ferns Sevens players to have scored 30-plus tries in a season. The RugbyPass MVP front-runner scored doubles in New Zealand’s three Pool A matches on Saturday.
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The Black Ferns Sevens will take on hometown heroes the USA in the first Women’s Cup Semi-Final on Sunday, before Australia face Fiji in the other knockout fixture. Fiji are chasing another upset after starting their weekend with a 22-17 victory against France.
That was the first women’s match of the tournament, with Miller and the New Zealanders making their way onto the field next. Miller scored twice and Katelyn Vahaakolo crossed for a hat-trick as the Black Ferns Sevens ran away with a dominant 46-5 win over Great Britain.
Australia recorded an emphatic 40-point win over Japan and the USA claimed a shutout 24-0 triumph over rivals Canada. That brought an end to the opening round of fixtures, setting up some must-win and pivotal matches later on day one.
Miller touched down for another double as New Zealand beat Fiji 31-10, before Levi made history in a 40-0 performance against Canada. The Levi sisters dominated the fixture, with Maddison scoring four and Teagan running in a double.
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The USA gave their fans plenty to cheer about with a 47-point win against Japan, meaning they had yet to concede a point at that stage. While they lost to Australia 26-19 in their final Pool B match, the USA had still done enough to make the final four.
“We’re pretty stoked to get the win against USA at [their] home, we knew it was going to be a tough battle and they keep improving week-in-week-out,” Maddison Levi said.
“We just take it game by game each tournament. Fiji will come out firing tomorrow, as will we.”
New Zealand are up next for the USA, with the Black Ferns Sevens going three-from-three with a 29-19 victory over France in Pool A. The Black Ferns Sevens have won four of the five events so far this season and were six points clear on the overall standings ahead of the New York stop.
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