Jorja Miller overtook Maddison Levi in the season try-scoring rankings with a hat-trick in the final match of Pool A, as the Black Ferns Sevens went three-for three to top the table and set-up a semi-final against France.
Miller has 11 tries so far this season, one more than her Australian rival heading into finals day on Sunday.
Levi had a quiet day by her standards, crossing the whitewash just three times. But Australia, who have never been beaten in Cape Town, eased to consecutive victories over France, Canada and Japan to set up their last-four match against USA on Sunday.
POOL A: Dubai champions Black Ferns Sevens cruise into Cape Town last four
A double for Kaylen Thomas guided USA to a 15-7 win over Fiji in their opening match, as they started their quest to go one better in Cape Town than last year.
Fiji, who finished fourth in Dubai bounced back from their opening match disappointment, with six players registering tries as they beat Great Britain 40-0.
Breakout Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 star Braxton Sorensen-McGee scored her first HSBC SVNS try as freshly crowned Dubai champions New Zealand opened the defence of their Cape Town title with a comfortable 38-10 win over Great Britain.
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And, after the upset in Dubai last weekend, New Zealand weren’t about to let USA grab a second victory in as many meetings. Kelsey Teneti’s first-half double — she got her hat-trick with a powerful and pacy solo effort early in the second period — set the Black Ferns Sevens on the way to a 38-12 victory.
USA, however, later beat winless Great Britain 31-17, thanks in no small part to a brace for Su Adegoke, to leave semi-final qualification in the hands of New Zealand, who faced Fiji in the final Pool A match.
To deny USA, Fijiana had to beat the Black Ferns Sevens for the first time. The freshly crowned Dubai champions didn’t give them a chance, racing into a 19-0 first-half lead, and going on to win 31-19, aided by a Jorja Miller hat-trick.
POOL B: Australia’s unbeaten Cape Town pool run continues
Australia, out to prove a point after their long reign as queens of Dubai ended against their will last week, issued an early warning with a seven-try 41-0 mauling of France.
They doubled down on that win with a 26-19 victory over Canada second time out. Faith Nathan dotted down twice, with Madison Ashby and Isabella Nasser also scoring.
Les Bleues bounced back in their second outing of the day. Suliana Sivi scored two as they beat Dubai bronze finishers Japan 29-19, after Yume Hirano had got the scoreboard moving with a try in her 50th sevens tournament.
Japan had set a high bar in the opening match of the day, against Canada, as they set out to build on their third-place in Dubai. Sakura Mizutani finished not one but two well-worked moves, and Hana Nagata raced clear from 80m out as they won 26-19 to claim a second win over the Paris silver-medallists in as many tournaments.
But, having finished seventh in Dubai, France put one foot firmly in the semi-finals with a 31-12 win over Canada, Lou Noel scoring a hat-trick inside five first-half minutes to set them on their way.
A Maddison Levi double in the final match of Pool B sent Australia through to the semi-finals unbeaten. They quickly snuffed out Japan’s outside chances of a last-four place en route to a 36-5 final score.
You can watch all the HSBC SVNS action on Finals Day in Dubai on Rugbypass TV, or your local broadcaster