'The beauty of sevens': NZ star reacts to Australia's shock elimination
The Black Ferns Sevens have booked their place in the Sydney Sevens semi-finals after beating Japan for the second time in one day.
New Zealand had scored 77 points and only conceded 12 across their first two pools games, before playing Japan in the final round-robin match on Saturday morning.
After beating Japan 27-12, the Black Ferns secured their place in the knockout rounds where they’d face… Japan, again.
But this time they were even more dominant, as they recorded an emphatic 33-nil victory at Allianz Stadium.
Sevens veteran Michaela Blyde set the tone from the opening minute with a try, and the women in black added another seven points to their lead shortly after.
Along with Blyde, four players crossed the try-line in the quarterfinal including Jorja Miller, Stacey Flihler and Portia Woodman-Wickliffe.
It’s an interesting curveball in the race for this seasons World Series crown, with Australia having been knocked out by France two games earlier.
New Zealand were already four points ahead of their fierce rivals on the World Series standings, but can separate themselves from the pack even more with a win in Sydney.
Sevens star Blyde said that while the Australians would be disappointed to lose at home, the Black Ferns need to make the most of this “opportunity.”
“Obviously it’s gutting for them being at home, but that’s the beauty of sevens,” Blyde told RugbyPass.
“You’ve just got no idea who’s gonna turn up on the day and you have to turn up, no matter if it’s your home, quarters, first pool game.
“Obviously it’s an opportunity for us to get some good points ahead of them.”
Blyde walked off the field with an icepack – insisting it was only for recovery – and appeared firmly focused on the job that awaits her team on Day Three.
While Australia’s elimination is shocking, and could potentially bode well for New Zealand’s pursuit of a World Series title, Blyde insisted that her side won’t “get too far ahead of ourselves.”
“We’ve got to focus on our semi-final first,” she added.
“We’ve got a big game against Ireland, they’re looking extremely fit, they love to move the ball around.
“We’re not going to get complacent we’re not going to get too far ahead of ourselves; what’s most important is our semi-final tomorrow.”
The Black Ferns Sevens will play Ireland in the Cup semi-finals on Sunday afternoon, with the match set to kick off around 3.44pm (AEDT).
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Looking forward to Canterbury's game. Great line up. Isaac Hutchinson at 15 has had a stunning first season for Canterbury. Another of other promising players introduced this year. 100 game Mitchell Drummond at halfback in great form last week.
Go to commentsIn order to have a fairer comparison you need to include the European Champions Cup game minutes played. Without them the SRP numbers are relatively overstated. I probably would also include Challenge Cup knock out stages minutes as well. For a number of clubs in the North these are the key games, not just the league, and the high profile players play in most of them if fit.
My other caveat on the piece, which was very interesting, is a feeling that the underlying assumption is that the international game has to be presented with "fresh" players and thus the next tier down has to accommodate to this. I would challenge this. The growth markets are club/provincial competitions and Test rugby needs to capped at a maximum of 10 or 11 games per team per season/year. Otherwise you don't have enough time to deliver a strong enough narrative in markets where rugby has many competitors and there is nowhere for franchise teams from emerging markets ( Spain , Georgia, Fiji, Chile etc.) to develop experience and depth - eventually being able to compete properly at RWC etc.
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