Ferns win Oceania sevens title
The women’s Oceania sevens championship came down to the expected final between world champions New Zealand and Australia, the two nations who between them had won all five rounds of the IRB Women’s Sevens World Series 2013-14.
Published by John Birch, October 6th, 2014
2 minute read
New Zealand were top seeds after the pool stages, when all seven teams played each other once, with an unbeaten record. Australia, the defending Oceania Sevens champions, were second seeds after losing only one match, 19-17 to New Zealand, on day one.This set up a mouth-watering finale, but New Zealand took an early lead and dominated territory to hold a 21-5 advantage at half-time. The Series champions continued to dominate after the break, denying Australia any space and possession to run out 31-10 winners.“It was awesome, we dug really deep over the two days. We gelled really well and played for each other and the squad members at home,” explained New Zealand vice-captain Tyla Nathan-Wong.
“It came down to belief and hard work and we worked them hard in the middle and then hit the ball wide which worked well.”Fiji, who will join the Women's Sevens World Series as a core team in 2014-15 after winning the qualifying tournament last month in Hong Kong, finished third ahead of Samoa, Papua New Guinea, the Cook Islands and Tonga.
Results:
Final :