Five reasons not to miss women’s HSBC SVNS Los Angeles

From another chapter of the mesmerising New Zealand v Australia rivalry to the best of the rest ready to shock via the Player of the Year nominees, the World Championships has it all:

See New Zealand play sevens to perfection

Numerous teams and players have lit up the HSBC SVNS circuit this season, but still, no one and nothing can quite match the sight of the Black Ferns in full flow.

With all bases covered, the league champions have powered to four of the six SVNS titles this season, finishing second in the other two. Add on the second half of last season and it’s a staggering eight wins in their past 10 SVNS tournaments, plus an Olympic gold for good measure.

A World Championship title in LA would right a very rare wrong, after their defeat to Australia in the semi-finals of last year’s Grand Final.

So good has the entire squad been that it almost feels wrong to pull out a particular name to keep an eye on, but it is not for nothing that Jorga Miller has been short-listed for the HSBC SVNS Women’s Player of the Year award. Catch her if you can.

2. Could Australia spoil neighbour’s Hollywood party?

Having said all that, no team is better placed to disrupt the flow, and indeed the celebrations than Trans-Tasman rivals, Australia. And no doubt, they will not be lacking in motivation.

By any normal reckoning, Australia have had a cracking season, backing up an opening win in Dubai with a home soil triumph in Perth, plus two successive silver medals to end the league campaign.

But how do they turn the tide on New Zealand? Look to Maddison Levi is one solid option.

Not only has the Player of the Year nominee scored more than a third of her team’s tries this season (despite missing the Vancouver tournament with injury) she also produced the viral moment of the year in Singapore, somehow ripping the ball off New Zealand’s Kelsey Teneti while executing a try-saving tackle and in the same movement jumping to her feet and initiating a brilliant counter-attack.

In opposite Pools, the crowd inside LA’s Dignity Health Sports Park will no doubt be hoping the titans face each other once more, with everything on the line.

3. Check out sides set to cause shocks

While the top-two have dominated, what makes these one-off, winner-takes-all World Championships so fascinating is that all six of the remaining teams will believe they can pop up and cause a shock.

A young French team kicked off the season with three successive bronze medals and have not been far away since. Just behind them in the league table, Canada have welcomed back a host of their Olympic silver medallists since the start of the year and it’s shown.

A week after their 15-a-side team claimed a historic first win over the USA, the rapidly-improving Japan could well replicate such stateside success. Not that the hosts, silver medal winners back in Cape Town, will be thinking of anything other than creating their own storyline in Tinseltown.

Meanwhile, Fiji may have ended the regular season seventh, but they too showed they can mix it by finishing second in Vancouver and Great Britain remain dangerous on their day.

4. Watch potential Rugby World Cup 2025 stars shine

While all the focus will be on grabbing SVNS glory, the action inside the LA 2028 Olympic sevens venue does offer a range of players another high-profile chance to press claims for a spot at the 15-a-side Rugby World Cup later this year.

In a week in which arguably the greatest women’s sevens player in the history of the game, Portia Woodman-Wickliffe has announced her intention to go for a third RWC title, there is a battle to join her in the All Black shirt.

Fellow RWC 2022 winner Stacey Waaka joins 15s international Teneti in LA, while sevens teammates Miller and Risi Pouri-Lane have indicated their desire to be in England later this year too.

Add on Levi, plus the likes of her legendary Aussie teammate Charlotte Caslick and it is clear, this tournament has so much riding on it for so many.

5. Plenty of storylines to light-up Play-Offs

From Kenya to Colombia, much of the globe will be represented in the thrilling spectacle that is the HSBC SVNS Play-Offs.

The former were crowned Challenger champions after two wins and a third-place regular season finish, while Colombia secured their place in the Play-Offs thanks to a run of historic results.

South Africa and Argentina will join them, with players of all four Challenger sides getting a chance to test their skills against one of the very best.

Brazil’s Thalia Costa has scored 23 SVNS tries this season, enough to earn her a nomination, alongside Levi and Miller, for the Player of the Season award. But her main focus in LA will no doubt be on helping her team navigate the high-stakes Play-Offs.

China, who got their best ever result in Singapore (6^th) last time out, plus Ireland and Spain complete the line-up.

It all makes for a tournament in which every single moment matters.