The best matches from the inaugural Ultimate Sevens season

The inaugural season of the Ultimate Sevens has ended, and with it, a chance to examine and assess its impact on sevens rugby at large.

The new format and teams allowed for a new style of sevens to be played, one that showcased the talents of many of the world’s best coming together.

With that in mind, RugbyPass looks back on six matches that stood out across the three legs of the Ultimate Sevens, and who stood up in the key moments to deliver results.

Pacific Current 13-20 Foudre Bleue – Cardiff Men’s Semi Finals

Despite going down in the final to Clan Taran, Foudre Bleue signalled themselves early on in the three series, with this match marking the first golden try scored in the tournament’s history.

A tightly contested match which saw tries to Finley Lloyd-Gilmour and Marcus Kershaw for Pacific in reply to Jayden Keelan and Nathaniel Barry’s early tries for Foudre Bleue, seeing the scores 13-all at full time.

The decisive score to break the deadlock was scored by academy player Josua Cevaceva, sending Foudre Bleue to the maiden men’s final, and showcasing just how valuable the tournament could be for academy talent.

Sol Feroz 7-19 Atlantic Novas – Cardiff Women’s Final

The grand final in Cardiff proved to be one of the most fascinating matches across the three weeks, but the talking point was the contender for the form player of the day: Nia Toliver.

The USA star had proven lethal on the wing across the previous two games, and well supported by the likes of Faith Nathan, Alev Kelter and Ellie Boatman, scored a try in the final to see Atlantic draw first blood.

Atlantic Novas 10-11 Clan Taran – Biarritz Men, Round 1

The men’s opening round clashes were some of the tightest across the competition, with Cardiff seeing all games decided by a margin of seven or less and Biarritz seeing more open games, but no less tightly contested.

However, of all the tightest matches, this fixture between Cardiff winners Clan Taran and Atlantic Novas couldn’t have been much closer, a single-point conversion proving the difference for the former side.

Of particular note were Blitzboks Zain Davids and Selyyn Davids, the latter dominating in Cardiff while the former scored a double in this fixture, pairing nicely with Team GB stars Will Homer and Tom Emery.

Clan Taran 19-25 Pacific Current – Biarritz Women’s Final

If there was any message out of Biarritz, it was the arrival of Pacific Current and Maddison Levi.

After crashing out in the semi-finals in Cardiff, Levi and fellow Aussie Kahli Henwood, in combination with Fijian stars Ilisapeci Delaiwau and Reapi Ulunisau roared back into life in Biarritz, with Levi scoring a hat-trick in the final.

Taran provided stiff competition through fell Aussies Heidi Dennis and Mackenzie Davis, in addition to Adia Pye and Mariana Talatoka, but ultimately, the class of the Pacific proved too strong.

Albion Athletic 13-14 Sol Feroz – London Men’s Semi Final

This fixture and the subsequent final are both strong contenders, with Sol Feroz having to defeat both the Biarritz champion and the Cardiff champion in successive games to claim the inaugural men’s Ultimate Sevens title.

However, the semi-final takes the top spot, for the simple reason that, despite facing an Albion side that included SVNS Men’s Player of the Year Tristan Leyds, Aussie stars Ben Dowling and Harry Wilson, and French star Stephen Parez, Sol Feroz still came through.

A try to Nathan Lawson and then a second at the death to Gaspard Lalli saw Spanish sevens star Juan Ramos needing a four-point conversion to win the game. Delivering a clutch result from the sideline, his effort marked one of the standout moments of the entire series.

Pacific Current 12-6 Atlantic Nicas – London Women’s Final

Despite the great contest between the many sides in the women’s competition, it felt strangely inevitable that the grand final would be contested between the Biarritz and Cardiff winners.

It was a match that lived up to the hype, with Ellie Boatman keeping the Novas in touch all the way until the last minute of the game.

However, the strong Australian-Fiji combination proved lethal, with Maddison Levi and Kahli Henwood producing big performances, and Brazilian Gabriela Lima scoring what would be the title-securing try at the death to win it for Pacific Current.