Australia celebrated not one but two titles at Stade Atlantique, as they added the Bordeaux HSBC SVNS World Championship series crown to the Valladolid title they won a week previously – and claimed the overall world title with a dominant victory over great rivals New Zealand in an all-action final.
Co-captain Isabella Nasser was full of praise for her team-mates: “We definitely had our bumps, ups and downs throughout this tournament and to show up like that against a really quality side like New Zealand, I couldn’t be more proud of the girls,” she told Rugbypass moments after the final whistle had blown at the end of the showpiece match.
“We have an amazing squad at home and the squad here, and the depth of our programme is unbelievable – we saved the best to last in regards to our performance.
“To be able to perform when it really matters at crunch time in the World Championship is really important to us. [New Zealand are] a quality side, amazing talent in their team. For us to go that one bit more and to be able to put more tries on, to be able to show up is really important to us and I couldn’t be happier.”
Canada claimed third with a victory over USA, while Spain’s eighth-place finish was enough to see them promoted to next season’s main HSBC SVNS Series, at Great Britain’s expense.
The eight sides on the main tour next season will be: Australia, New Zealand, Canada, USA, France, Fiji, Japan and Spain.
Final: Australia complete late title charge with dominant Bordeaux win
Heidi Dennis and Maddison Levi gave Australia a 14-7 lead at the end of an all-action, don’t blink first-half marked as much by the crunching tackles flying in as it was the trio of tries – Manaia Nuku finding an against-the-run-of-play answer for the Black Ferns Sevens.
New Zealand hit back through Katelyn Vahaakolo midway through the second period – but an injury hoodoo that has plagued them in Bordeaux struck again. With Stacey Waaka and Mahina Paul already ruled out, they lost Risi Pouri-Lane in the very next play, which ended with Faith Nathan scoring for Australia.
And Levi – in just her second match in Bordeaux – sealed the result with her second try of the final. Kelsey Teneti’s after-the-hooter touchdown to take the final score to 26-19 was just a consolation.
Player of the final Levi had returned to the Australia starting line-up for the first time since the second HSBC SVNS World Championship Series tournament in Valladolid as the standings leaders weathered a second-half storm against USA to win 21-7 and set up a winner-takes-all final against their great trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand.
Heidi Dennis, Madison Ashby and Isabella Nasser all scored in the first five minutes as Australia threatened to run away with the last-four match – but they were pegged back and USA had their chances after Kaylen Thomas cut the deficit before half-time.
For New Zealand, some late-season cracks were showing. Jorja Miller touched down under the posts with the clock in the red to break Canadian hearts in a thrilling semi-final in Bordeaux.
The Paris Olympic silver medallists were seconds from a historic second win over the Black Ferns Sevens in 37 attempts – leading 17-12 courtesy of a double from Charity Williams and a score for Savannah Bauder – when they gave up a penalty just outside their own 22.
Miller did the rest, and gave Manaia Nuku a simple conversion to win it 19-17.
Levi, who only returned to the pitch on the final day in Bordeaux after picking up an injury in Valladolid a week earlier, paid tribute to her team mates. “I got to play two games,” she told Rugbypass immediately after the final. “They played six and they’ve carried the whole way through, so it [the Player of the Final award] goes out to the whole team. They help me out there and they helped me get back so I wouldn’t be there without them.
“It’s been our most consistent season. We’ve been in every single final. So I think, win or lose in that game, we’re building as a programme, we’re creating depth, and for us to go out there and beat a pretty amazing New Zealand side – they're always tough, they always fight. It’s pretty awesome to have the girls out there.”
Play-offs: Canada recover from Black Ferns loss to claim third
Kaylen Thomas’s hat-trick wasn’t quite enough for Olympic bronze medallists USA to claim third in Bordeaux as Canada – who had come so close to beating New Zealand earlier in the day – held on to win an end-to-end third-place play-offs 21-19 and climb to third in the HSBC SVNS World Championship standings.
Alycia Christiaens set a new season’s try-tally for a youthful France side as they finished their season in style with a 24-12 win over Fiji. The flier came off the bench to score two of their four tries, and take her total for this season’s HSBC SVNS Series to 35.
Relentless Japan claimed seventh place in Bordeaux with a 19-7 win over HSBC SVNS Series qualifiers Spain – Chiaki Saegusa, Hanako Utsumi, and Honoka Tsutsumi all crossing for the Sakura Sevens.
Argentina and Great Britain traded highlight-reel tries in the 14 minutes of the ninth-place play-off. In the end, the South American side prevailed 31-19.
Brazil signed off from the HSBC SVNS World Championship Series on a positive note with a 24-17 win over South Africa to claim 11th place.