Why Aussie captain wants France to beat NZ in Cup Final
France stunned the rugby world on Saturday evening as they knocked reigning World Series champions Australia out of their home event in Sydney.
Well, technically they did it twice.
Home crowd favourites Australia were eliminated in the quarterfinals of the men’s competition in controversial fashion, as Thomas Carol converted a penalty attempt with the final play of the game.
But that wasn’t the biggest surprise from Day Two.
Earlier in the day, the Australian Women’s Sevens team were also knocked out of the Cup Final race... by France... in the quarterfinals.
Chloe Pelle and Carla Neisen stunned the home crowd with a try each, and while Faith Nathan was able to claw one back, it wasn’t enough.
Australia were left to rue what could’ve been following the 5-10 defeat.
As the players walked down the North-West tunnel of Allianz Stadium, they were clearly disappointed.
Playing in front of their home fans, some for the first time in an Australian Sevens jersey, the champion team had fallen short of their ultimate goal.
While Australia usually rival New Zealand for Cup Final glory, that won’t be the case in Sydney.
Instead, the Black Ferns Sevens will look to overcome giant slayers France in a highly anticipated blockbuster on Sunday evening.
New Zealand were already beating Australia by four points on the World Series standing ahead of the Sydney Sevens, and will separate themselves even further regardless of the result.
Speaking after her sides convincing 34-12 win over Fiji in the fifth place playoff, Australian captain Charlotte Caslick revealed who she wants to win the final.
“I guess this season for us (is) all about qualification and we’ll remain in the top four which is our goal for the year,” Caslick told reporters.
“Hopefully France put on a really good show, obviously losing to them, we’d like them to take it out.
“For some of the girls they’d never been able to play at home before so it was a really huge occasion,” she added.
“I think we’ll take heaps out of yesterday, it was just a few moments under pressure that we didn’t capitalise (on) and we didn’t respect the ball.
“France have been awesome this whole campaign so we’re looking forward to seeing how they go in the final.”
Australia may have fallen short of Sydney Sevens glory, but there are still some positives to take away from this event.
Some young players, including the talent Teagan Levi, were given some valuable minutes to impress for the national team.
The countdown to next year’s Olympic Games in Paris is well and truly on, so Caslick said this experience will only benefit the Australians.
“In the grand scheme of things we’re obviously looking forward to Paris next year and securing that qualification this year, and then building towards that.
“I think we’ve learnt a lot out of this tournament.
“We’ve still got a really young side, I think Tegan Levi was really great today. I think the experience that she’s gotten from this tournament is going to be huge for her development.”
Latest Comments
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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