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Why Aussie captain wants France to beat NZ in Cup Final

(Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

France stunned the rugby world on Saturday evening as they knocked reigning World Series champions Australia out of their home event in Sydney.

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Well, technically they did it twice.

Home crowd favourites Australia were eliminated in the quarterfinals of the men’s competition in controversial fashion, as Thomas Carol converted a penalty attempt with the final play of the game.

But that wasn’t the biggest surprise from Day Two.

Earlier in the day, the Australian Women’s Sevens team were also knocked out of the Cup Final race… by France… in the quarterfinals.

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Chloe Pelle and Carla Neisen stunned the home crowd with a try each, and while Faith Nathan was able to claw one back, it wasn’t enough.

Australia were left to rue what could’ve been following the 5-10 defeat.

As the players walked down the North-West tunnel of Allianz Stadium, they were clearly disappointed.

Playing in front of their home fans, some for the first time in an Australian Sevens jersey, the champion team had fallen short of their ultimate goal.

While Australia usually rival New Zealand for Cup Final glory, that won’t be the case in Sydney.

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Instead, the Black Ferns Sevens will look to overcome giant slayers France in a highly anticipated blockbuster on Sunday evening.

New Zealand were already beating Australia by four points on the World Series standing ahead of the Sydney Sevens, and will separate themselves even further regardless of the result.

Speaking after her sides convincing 34-12 win over Fiji in the fifth place playoff, Australian captain Charlotte Caslick revealed who she wants to win the final.

“I guess this season for us (is) all about qualification and we’ll remain in the top four which is our goal for the year,” Caslick told reporters.

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“Hopefully France put on a really good show, obviously losing to them, we’d like them to take it out.

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“For some of the girls they’d never been able to play at home before so it was a really huge occasion,” she added.

“I think we’ll take heaps out of yesterday, it was just a few moments under pressure that we didn’t capitalise (on) and we didn’t respect the ball.

“France have been awesome this whole campaign so we’re looking forward to seeing how they go in the final.”

Australia may have fallen short of Sydney Sevens glory, but there are still some positives to take away from this event.

Some young players, including the talent Teagan Levi, were given some valuable minutes to impress for the national team.

The countdown to next year’s Olympic Games in Paris is well and truly on, so Caslick said this experience will only benefit the Australians.

“In the grand scheme of things we’re obviously looking forward to Paris next year and securing that qualification this year, and then building towards that.

“I think we’ve learnt a lot out of this tournament.

“We’ve still got a really young side, I think Tegan Levi was really great today. I think the experience that she’s gotten from this tournament is going to be huge for her development.”

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M
Mzilikazi 1 hour ago
Western Force and ACT Brumbies looking for signs of progress in Super Rugby Pacific

It’s good to be at the start of the season, to be tipping the games again. Thanks for the article Brett. An interesting and, for me, informative read, as I have not kept up with all the news of all the teams, really only Qld.


Whatever happens in the search for a new coach for the WB’s, all of Les Kiss, Stephen Larkham and Dan McKellar will be coaching their respective teams this year. I believe Kiss to be the best of the three, and by a significant margin(the bad result against the Chiefs in the playoffs last season the one scar), and that gives Qld., in my view, an extra edge.


I agree, Brett, that Qld. on paper, and on squad strength and experience, look the best bet for Australia. If Tim Ryan builds on last year, he could be a WB starter against the Lions. The locking strength and depth is approaching that of teams like Leinster, Toulouse etc…not as strong ofc, but in Super Rugby circles, yes.


I like the type of game Kiss is building. Really carrying on from where he was rudely interrupted at London Irish, when they fell over. The one game on tour where they beat Ulster was a significant pointer to where they are at. While not a top Ulster unit, it was still a very good team, not easy to beat in Belfast. Sadly the Bristol game was a training run, but still valuable in a way, as the group were touring, building systems and understanding.


One player I will be watching with interest is Finn Hurley at the Highlanders. He was brought to my attention a year ago by the grandson of a friend, who knew him at Otago Boys High in Dunedin. Small, but resilient, with a good boot, from what I have seen on clips, he should have a useful first full year as a Highlander.


Hope the Force do well… have always had a “soft spot” for them. But good luck to all franchises, and pray for no serious injuries….as I have done forever, as aplayer, then coach, and now long retired rugby fanatic 😀

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J
Jfp123 3 hours ago
New twist sees Romain Ntamack's Six Nations ban extended

I’m still not convinced. I think everyone should be punished equally for similar actions, rather than differentiating punishment on the basis of speculative psychological analysis. I still think accusations are based more on the mindset of the accuser than the accused. As mentioned, I can’t possibly say why Ntamack committed foul play and you may be right, but that’s not the only possible explanation. Have you never lost concentration when work’s a walkover and your best efforts aren’t needed. We know very little about Ntamack, perhaps major upheavals off the pitch were on his mind, eg maybe worried about the baby. Or how about turning your speculation in the opposite direction? Some pundits mentioned there were afters to the tackle, which presumably indicate the Welsh player had lost his temper. Were those afters delivered silently, or were they accompanied by words? Could he have said something insulting about Ntamack’s mixed heritage, or family, or something else that lit the blue touch paper? I don’t suppose he was complimenting him on his hair! No provocation justifies dangerous play, whether an HIA examination is required or not, and Ntamack deserved his red card and punishment. But if this is what happened, would you call both players’ losses of temper ‘malicious’? After all, Ntamack has taken thousands of big hits over his career without retaliating. The foul was out of character, so should it be explained away by afters to the tackle that were malicious? No one landed a punch, but are all punches malicious, whatever the provocation? Now both this scenario and yours take actions which actually happened, and then progress to pure speculation about the unknown. There are other possibilities too. I’m certainly not saying any of the possibilities discussed are what happened and I don’t presume to know what the players were thinking at the time. If you want to make a case for punishing all players who get a red card, in a similar way with similar outcomes, for longer, that would be fair enough. But I don’t think it’s fair to call for special punishment for a particular player based on speculation.

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