Australia’s men’s sevens squad followed the lead of their female counterparts to claim the HSBC SVNS World Championship Series title in Valladolid, with a thrilling comeback win over a South Africa side who have dominated the sevens season so far.
They recovered from a rapid Blitzboks’ start to win 26-19 in dramatic fashion in the showpiece to lift the trophy, while confirming their place on the main HSBC SVNS Series for next season, alongside their beaten final opponents, and Argentina – who finished in third with a play-off victory over Fiji.
Final: Hutchison stars as Australia complete Spanish gold rush
Australia fought their way back from 14-0 down to beat South Africa 26-19 in a thrilling men’s final in Valladolid and emulate the success of their female counterparts.
The Blitzboks had got off to a lightning start. Shilton van Wyk and Sebastiaan Jobb sent the HSBC SVNS World Championship Series leaders into a 14-0 lead in the opening three minutes.
But, then, Australia found their footing. James Turner got them on the board, and Ethan McFarland touched down to level the scores just before the break.
Ben Dowling raced clear to send Australia into the lead seconds after South Africa’s Tristan Leyds was sent to the sin-bin. And player-of-the-final Henry Hutchison added another in the 11th minute to open up a 10-point lead.
But a red for Turner for a high tackle gave South Africa an outside chance to steal it. Gino Cupido cut the deficit with seconds left on the clock – and then looked to have delivered the crucial final pass that would have levelled the scores and forced the final into golden point extra time.
But the pass went slightly forward.
Hutchison paid tribute to the Blitzboks immediately afterwards: “South Africa have made it to so many finals for a reason,” he told RugbyPass. “We knew they were going to be good, but we had a lot of confidence going into this game that, if we stuck to what we were good at, we’re a really hard team to stop – and we did that for the last two games of this tournament.”
Semi-finals: South Africa set up final clash with ‘bogey team’
Henry Hutchison scored two in the second period as Australia held off a determined Fiji to win 21-14 and book their place in the final. James Turner had got their first in the fifth minute, after Australia had dominated the opening exchanges.
But every time they pulled away, Fiji hit back. Kavekini Tanivanuakula hit back immediately after Turner’s touchdown, and George Bose broke clear to score after Hutchison’s first. But his second – patiently worked by the entire team on the pitch – was a try too far for even the remarkable Fijian outfit.
SA have had trouble scoring tries in Valladolid, only managing nine in the first two days. But they got the scoreboard against Argentina moving courtesy of Sebastiaan Jobb in the second semi-final.
Ricardo Duarttee’s second-half solo effort added to their tally, before Ryan Oosthuizen sealed the deal in the final seconds as the Blitzboks booked their place in a sixth successive final on the HSBC SVNS tour with a 21-7 win.
“Obviously they beat us in the pool stages, they beat us in New York so they’ve been a bit of our bogey team. They’re a quality side – we really need to fix our errors, look after the ball, make our tackles, just play quality rugby,” Oosthuizen told RugbyPass.
Play-offs: Moneta-Gonzales duo guide Argentina to third
The prolific Marcos Moneta-Luciano Gonzalez partnership paid dividends for Argentina in the third-place play-off, helping them to a 28-17 win over Fiji.
Jayden Keelan’s spectacular opening try, with just two minutes on the clock, and his second late in the second-half helped New Zealand to a 22-12 win over hosts Spain, handing them a fifth-place finish.
Enahemo Artaud’s double earned France a 14-5 victory over Kenya, and ensured a seventh-place finish and crucial points heading into the final round of the HSBC SVNS World Championship Series next weekend in Bordeaux.
Two tries from captain Lucas Lacamp and some stout late defence helped USA to a 28-21 win over Germany to seal ninth.
Juan Manuel Tafernaberry’s tricky conversion of Joaquin Fresnedo’s on-the-hooter second try snatched 11th place for Uruguay out of Great Britain’s hands, deciding the match 19-17.