'It's horrible': France shock Australia in Sydney Sevens quarters
Reigning World Series champions Australia are out of the Sydney Sevens after being beaten 5-10 by France in the first women’s quarterfinal at Allianz Stadium.
It might go down in history as the biggest upset of this year's tournament.
Nobody would’ve seen this coming, except for maybe the French players and their supporters; they clearly believed that they could silence the Sydney crowd with an incredible upset.
And they did.
After a tense start to the sudden death thriller, World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year Charlotte Caslick was shown a yellow card for a high tackle.
France made the most of their one player advantage, as Chloe Pelle broke the deadlock shortly after in the seventh minute.
While they were only up 5-nil at the time, Australian rugby fans may have begun to fear the worst once Carla Neisen crossed for Les Bleus.
The women in gold were able to hit back with a late try to Faith Nathan, which breathed new life in the vibrant Sydney crowd - but the comeback wasn’t meant to be.
France had won the day, had stolen the show, and they had stunned the world.
Head Coach Tim Walsh said it feels “horrible” to lose at home, as he reflected on France’s defensive effort and how that brought an end to the home sides Sydney Sevens ambitions.
“It’s horrible. Losing is not the greatest feeling in the world and particularly at home, Walsh told reporters.
“They defended really well, I thought they deserved to win the game,” he added later.
“They certainly shut us down and we couldn’t get going.
“I can’t fault the way that the girls had a crack. A couple of things, the bounce of the ball sometimes and it can be a different game.
“In that last place, she put the kick on the dime, we got it back, so we gave ourselves every chance to at least walk away (with a result).”
The quarterfinal shock could also have major ramifications on Australia’s World Series ambitions, as New Zealand move on to the semi-finals after beating Japan.
The Black Ferns Sevens were already four points clear of the Australians on the World Series standings, but this result could see even more daylight separate the fierce rivals.
“It’ll probably put us a bit behind (on the World Series).
“We can start experimenting and making sure that we’re building up for next year and going into the Olympic year, but we’ve got to qualify, that’s the major thing.
“Creep up as far as we can on the World Series.”
While the Australian players were clearly disappointed after the full-time whistle has sounded, Walsh insisted that it “won’t be hard” to motivate them ahead of Day Three.
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No he's just limited in what he can do. Like Scott Robertson. And Eddie Jones.
Sometimes it doesn't work out so you have to go looking for another national coach who supports his country and believes in what he is doing. Like NZ replacing Ian Foster. And South Africa bringing Erasmus back in to over see Neinbar.
This is the real world. Not the fantasy oh you don't need passion for your country for international rugby. Ask a kiwi, or a south african or a frenchman.
Go to commentsDont complain too much or start jumping to conclusions.
Here in NZ commentators have been blabbing that our bottom pathway competition the NPC (provincial teams only like Taranaki, Wellington etc)is not fit for purpose ie supplying players to Super rugby level then they started blabbing that our Super Rugby comp (combined provincial unions making up, Crusaders, Hurricanes, etc) wasn't good enough without the South African teams and for the style SA and the northern powers play at test level.
Here is what I reckon, Our comps are good enough for how WE want to play rugby not how Ireland, SA, England etc play. Our comps are high tempo, more rucks, mauls, running plays, kicks in play, returns, in a game than most YES alot of repetition but that builds attacking skillsets and mindsets. I don't want to see world teams all play the same they all have their own identity and style as do England (we were scared with all this kind of talk when they came here) World powerhouse for a reason, losses this year have been by the tiniest of margins and could have gone either way in alot of games. Built around forward power and blitz defence they have got a great attack Wingers are chosen for their Xfactor now not can they chase up and unders all day. Stick to your guns its not far off
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