HSBC SVNS: North American pair set up women's semi-finals against big two

Australia will play Canada and New Zealand will take on hosts USA in Sunday's World Championship semi-finals after a great day's HSBC SVNS action at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Los Angeles.

CHAMPIONSHIP POOL A

League champions New Zealand won all three of their pool matches and are on course to try to avenge their semi-final defeat last year in the HSBC World Championship. They were 31-7 up against Great Britain at half-time and added further scores by Michaela Brake and Maia Davis for a 41-12 win.

The Black Ferns Sevens then ran in a half century of points against Japan, who replied once, through Suzuha Okamoto, and then rattled Canada 41-5 in a match which decided who would top the pool.

New Zealand had so many attacking options on show that their opponents struggled to know whom to target. Not only did we see the usual stars, such as Brake, Jorja Miller and Stacey Waaka in full flow, but against Canada, Jazmin Felix-Hotham scored her 50th and 51st HSBC SVNS tries while newbie Justine McGregor scored her first. 

Pool runners-up Canada put 26 points on the board without reply against Japan, Asia Hogan-Rochester scoring twice, then beat Great Britain 26-17 before that loss to the Kiwis.

CHAMPIONSHIP POOL B

Australia were on a different level in the other pool, winning a hat-trick of matches. The young outfit began by beating Fiji 26-5. Bridget Clark, Maddison Levi and Isabella Nasser scored before sheer grit by Verenaisi Ditavutu reduced the deficit ahead of a Mackenzie Davis try.

Teagan and Maddison Levi scored the first three tries in Australia's 33-12 win over hosts USA and rounded off their pool games with a 33-17 success against France.

With France having only a bonus point to show for their efforts, it was a shoot-out between USA and Fiji to determine who would be Pool B's other representative in the World Championship semi-final.

It soon became apparent the Americans were in the mood to make sure it would be them who would prevail. Speedsters Ariana Ramsey and Nia Toliver ran in two tries apiece before the Fijiana 7s got going. USA, though, were given a fright by Fiji's resurgence as they brought it back to 24-19 before Susan Adegoke cut a great line through the Fiji defence to score beneath the posts and spark celebrations among the nervy home fans.

"We are playing for everybody here," said an ecstatic Ramsey after setting up a semi against the Black Ferns Sevens.

"Having more game awareness against New Zealand is going to be important."

PLAY-OFF POOL A

Thalia Costa scored a hat-trick in Brazil's 45-12 win over Colombia. They followed that with a win over Kenya and they and Spain boast six points with one game remaining on Sunday.

The teams finishing ninth to 12th in Los Angeles, behind the eight teams contesting the World Championship, will enter HSBC SVNS Division 2 in next year's revamped competition.

PLAY-OFF POOL B

China won their matches against Argentina and South Africa and are out in front of that duo with six points compared to their three, while Ireland prop up the pool with one point.