Gold for Ferns after Aussie’s stumble

The big news in Cape Town was the new format – four pools of three leading straight into semi-finals.

The new format ensures that sevens tournaments can be kept to two days, but leaves no room for error in the pools.

In practice the first weekend resulted in the final pool game were all effectively becoming quarter-final knockout games as the winners would top their respective groups and these games were won by Australia, New Zealand, France and USA.

A dramatic final day at the DHL Stadium had already seen last year’s champions here, Australia, lose to a Nia Tolliver-inspired USA in the semi-finals. The sensational Tolliver left three Australian defenders in her wake as she scored her second try of the match with the clock in the red as USA repeated their Olympic bronze match heroics.

Australia – defending champions here – looked to be in full control after Maddison Levi scored their third try, her fourth at the DHL Stadium this weekend, after nine minutes.

But Tolliver got her first a minute later, to pull USA to within two, then broke several tackles to celebrate her way to the line with the last play of the game.

“We don’t always play to our potential. But today we did,” an exhausted Tolliver said.

After qualifying for the last four with a scruffy win over Japan on day one, a disciplined and physical New Zealand dictated terms from first whistle to last in the opening semi-final against France. “We just turned up today,” Kelsey Teneti said pitchside immediately afterwards.

Seven different players scored for the Black Ferns Sevens as they won 43-0 to avenge their defeat at the same stage in Cape Town last year.

The Eagles gave the Black Ferns Sevens an early scare in an exciting final, but experience told, as they pulled away in the second half.

Final: New Zealand weather USA storm to lift title

Nia Tolliver raced clear to score her seventh Cape Town try as USA sprinted into a 12-0 lead in the opening three minutes of a dramatic, end-to-end showpiece match.

New Zealand, who had shipped two tries before getting on the scoreboard in a thriller of a final in Dubai, fired back before the break, taking a two-point lead courtesy of scores from HSBC Player of the Final Jorja Miller and Jazmin Felix-Hotham.

Kelsey Teneti added a third midway through the second half to extend the Black Ferns’ Sevens lead, as USA lost a little composure. Dhys Faleafaga then finished off a patient edge-to-edge attacking move to take the Olympic champions out of sight.

A knock-on denied Katelyn Vahaakolo a late try – but it would only have added an extra gloss on a 26-12 victory.

New Zealand captain Sarah Hirini said pitchside immediately afterwards: “I’m so happy! We were pretty disappointed with last weekend but I’m absolutely stoked here. We’re going home with goodies for Christmas!”

“Look at all the All Black jerseys, all the Black Ferns Sevens jerseys in the stadium. We love Cape Town, we love South Africa and they always turn out for us.”

Bronze Final: France hold on to claim second bronze

France – playing as if they had a point to prove after they were nilled in their semi-final against New Zealand – raced into a three-try 17-0 lead in the bronze final against Australia, a rerun of last year’s Cape Town final.

Alycia Chrystiaens, Hawa Tounkara and Ian Jason all scored as Les Bleues flew out of the starting blocks, before Australia could get their game together.

Maddison Levi reduced the deficit at the end of the first half, with her fifth try of the weekend, her 20th of the HSBC SVNS season so far – and cut it again with a 100m breakout try midway through the second to pull the score back to 17-14, one score in it with just over three minutes left on the clock.

A red card for Lili Dezou for a high tackle, after a long delay for a potentially serious injury to Perrine Fagnen, made for a tense finish. But Les Bleues held on for the win.

Play-off places: Canada claim fifth-place finish

Hana Nagata’s yellow card proved costly, as Japan conceded 12 points in the two minutes she was sidelined. Maya Addai then scored her first HSBC SVNS try to take the final score to 22-7 for the Olympic silver medalists.

Asia Hogan-Rochester had earlier bagged a hat-trick as Canada, who finished 10th in Dubai, beat Great Britain 27-12 to set-up a fifth-place play-off against Japan.

Japan, meanwhile, had held off Ireland’s second-half fightback to win an enthralling fifth-place semi-final 26-22, having been 19-5 ahead at the break.

In the seventh-place play-off, Katie Shillaker scored the first two tries of her international sevens career, and Ellie Boatman her fifth in Cape Town, to take her season tally to 14, as Great Britain finished the weekend on a positive note with a 24-7 win over illness-hit Ireland.

China’s defence told at the death, as they held off a late fightback from Fijiana, surviving a penalty decision against them after the hooter to win 14-12 and claim ninth place.

They had earlier scored three second-half tries in quick succession to beat Spain 19-7.

Having lost a thrilling, end-to-end ninth-place semi-final against Fiji 22-19, an organised Brazil finished 11th in Cape Town with a disciplined and clinical 26-14 win over Spain.

Pool A: Canada 43-17 Brazil; Australia 45-5 Brazil; Australia 26-10 Canada

Pool B: Japan 14-7 China; New Zealand 40-10 China; New Zealand 22-12 Japan

Pool C: Ireland 34-5 Spain; France 21-0 Spain; France 15-0 Ireland

Pool D: United States 31-0 Fiji; Great Britain 22-5 Fiji; Great Britain 14-31 United States

9th-12th Place Semi-Finals: China 19-7 Spain Brazil 19-22 Fiji

5th-8th Place Semi Finals: Japan 26-22 Ireland; Canada 27-12 Great Britain

Semi-Finals: New Zealand 43-0 France Australia 19-24 United States

11th Place: Spain 14-26 Brazil

9th Place: China 14-12 Fiji

7th Place: Ireland 7-24 Great Britain

5th Place: Japan 7-22 Canada

3rd Place: France 17-14 Australia

Final: New Zealand 26-12 United States