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Maddison Levi saves the day as Australia sneak past France in thriller

Australia (in orange) vs South Africa (in light green) during the HSBC SVNS Women's Series at the Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens 2024 at Hong Kong Stadium, Hong Kong, China, on 6 April 2024. Photo by Jayne Russell/Clique Visuals

Try-scoring phenomenon Maddison Levi was the heroine for Australia once again on Sunday evening as the SVNS Series heavyweights avoided a second consecutive defeat with a 24-21 win over France.

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After surviving a scare against Fiji in their opening match at the Hong Kong Sevens, Australia went on a run of three practically perfect wins before taking on arch-rivals New Zealand in the semi-finals.

But after surviving some early pressure from their Trans-Tasman rivals, the Black Ferns Sevens did more than enough to knock the Australians out of Cup final contention with a 28-14 win.

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Australia still had one more match to play at the prestigious event, though. Hours passed before the women in gold took the field again for a blockbuster third-place playoff against giant slayers France.

“Mentally it was kind of challenging to be on a high and then suddenly losing to New Zealand. It’s always tough playing against them,” Australia’s Faith Nathan told RugbyPass.

“But that’s the game of sevens.

“We had two girls debut this tournament and it’s just crazy to see all the new talent coming through Aussie.”

Most of the vibrant crowd at the world-famous Hong Kong Stadium seemed to be cheering for the Australians. Anytime they made a half-break, the crowd went berserk with a passionate cheer.

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But France, who had beaten New Zealand during the pool stages, risked spoiling the party with Valentine Lothoz and Joanna Grisez cancelling out a Madison Ashby try.

France had the lead and all the momentum as well. They were playing with confidence and were rewarded for their Frech flair as Chloe Jacquet crossed to add to their already strong lead.

With just over four minutes to play, SVNS Series juggernauts Australia were up against it, but they weren’t out. Debutant Bridget Clark scored and the Aussies weren’t done there.

As is often the case when the Aussies take the field, Maddison Levi’s individual brilliance had a significant say on this fixture – but in this case, it was the difference.

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Levi, who was nominated for World Rugby’s Sevens Player of the Year in 2023, crossed for tries in the 13th and 15th minute to hand the Australians a hard-fought 24-21 win.

But Levi’s second try was created by Faith Nathan’s rugby magic. The speedster almost broke through for the match-winner but was reeled down, but still fed the ball onto her teammate to score.

“It’s unreal. The crowd really brings our energy in the game,” Nathan said. It’s just so crazy to see that everywhere we go there’s always a crowd that supports sevens. It’s literally amazing.”

“I thought I was and then is aw about three girls on me and I thought, ‘Nup, I need to pass it, I can’t do it.’ But we got through in the end, thank goodness,” she continued.

“I’m just imagining it right now that she caught the ball and scored on the edge and all us girls ran towards her and gave her a cuddle.

“It’s honestly amazing having Maddy Levi in our team, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Her and Charlotte Caslick, both of them just lead the girls from the front and it’s really inspiring.”

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EllenMoody 2 hours ago
Great moments in Lions tour history – JPR’s drop goal and the All Blacks' brutal revenge

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JWH 4 hours ago
'Matches between Les Bleus and the All Blacks are rarely for the faint-hearted.'

Do you hear yourself? Do you have any concept of world view? Have you tried looking into why people call Ireland ‘arrogant’? Obviously not.


We started calling you arrogant when you called our captain a ‘shit Richie McCaw’. In New Zealand. On our turf. Don’t think that kind of behaviour really calls for respect, does it.


NZ don’t really talk ourselves up, if anything the rugby does it for us. No kiwi goes in the media and says: ‘We are gonna win the RWC’. However, I have found many instance of IRISH media saying that the Irish should win, without a doubt. THAT is disrespectful.


The All Blacks have played good rugby, even some of the best rugby ever, at many points in history, but I don’t think you could find a single instance of one of those players, or the NZ media, saying that they should whitewash their opponents. Ever.


Now, onto your analysis. Ireland DID choke the QF. They beat the champions, they were ranked first coming into it, a lot of players at the peaks of their powers. Its hard to say that they didn’t choke. Obviously, their preparation was just not as good as NZ, and thats all there really is to it.


If Ireland had repsected that ABs team and that QF more, maybe they would’ve prepared properly for it and won. But they didn’t.


Maybe if Ireland had won their QF last RWC, they wouldn’t have to be in the same pool as SA and Scotland. I mean, its called a draw for a reason. NZ got third last RWC, so of course they should get a reasonable pool, and they were ranked pretty highly too. If you want to talk about easy pools, look no further than Pool 3 with England, Australia, Fiji, and Georgia I think?


Now, obviously you don’t remember how that QF ended, so I’ll go ahead and rectify that. Ireland reclaimed the ball off kickoff and marched for 20ish phases into the opposition half. Savea then won a turnover, but the referee refused to give it, so play went on. Finally, at the NZ 22, after not giving up a single penatly in 25 phases of hard defense, Sam Whitelock, the most capped All Black of all time, wins the game with an incredible steal.


Now, NZ players having a go at Ireland. Do you cry when you get hit after making the first swing? We all know Sexton is a prick on the field, its just the truth. And Ioane never backs down from a clash, so he thought he should humble a player who has never won an international knockout game who thought he was all that. Don’t really see the issue, its poetic justice really.

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