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The USA Women’s Eagles claimed their second top-three finish of the season as they took Bronze at the Sydney Sevens. Canada were knocked out in the Quarter Finals by eventual champions New Zealand but won their remaining matches to salvage a 5th place result.
A last-gasp try by Cheta Emba gave Nicole Heavirland a chance to win the game against Russia and the co-captain made good on the conversion to put the USA into the Semi Finals. New Zealand once again proved a class apart but doubles for Kristen Thomas and Kristi Kirshe gave the Eagles a convincing win over Ireland to take third place.
Canada put their Quarter Final defeat behind them with a strong first half against Russia. Bianca Farella and Kaili Lukan scored tries and it would be enough as they held on to take the 12-5 win. The 5th place final saw Canada trailing France by five and it was Farella again the hero, scoring her second try of the match with Ghislaine Landry’s conversion sealing the two-point win.
New Zealand would face Olympic champions Australia in the Cup Final. For the third straight tournament the Black Ferns proved unstoppable. Michaela Blyde finished the game off with her third try of the final with Stacey Waaka contributing a brace.
The results see the USA leap-frogging Canada into second place overall, the latter now two points behind in third and tied with Australia on 46 points. With a perfect 60 points from three straight tourney wins New Zealand are close to building an insurmountable lead at the top of the table.
It’s a long wait for the next HSBC Women’s Sevens Series event which comes in Kitakyushu, Japan, on April 20. In the meantime many nations will send select sides to the Las Vegas invitational tournament in a month’s time.
KNOCK-OUT RESULTS
TROPHY SEMI FINALS
England 54-0 Papua New Guinea
Fiji 12-0 China
CUP QUARTER FINALS
New Zealand 17-7 Canada
Russia 5-7 USA
Ireland 22-7 Spain
Australia 21-17 France
11th PLACE FINAL
Papua New Guinea 0-31 China
TROPHY FINAL
England 12-15 Fiji
5th PLACE SEMI FINALS
Canada 12-5 Russia
Spain 12-19 France
CUP SEMI FINALS
New Zealand 29-5 USA
Ireland 12-24 Australia
7th PLACE FINAL
Russia 34-5 Spain
5th PLACE FINAL
Canada 19-17 France
BRONZE FINAL
USA 26-10 Ireland
CUP FINAL
New Zealand 34-10 Australia
