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Women's Sevens World Series gearing up for epic climax
By Online Editors
The quarter-finals for the final leg of the HSBC Women's Sevens World Series are confirmed.
Series leaders Australia will play Fiji while New Zealand, who are in hot pursuit in the race for the series title, will face Spain after an action-packed first day of competition at the Stade Jean Bouin in Paris.
In the other quarter-finals, hosts France take on England while Canada against USA completes the line-up.
With Australia leading rivals New Zealand by just four points in the standings, the stage is set for an epic climax to the series. The two dominant teams find themselves on different sides of the quarter-final draw meaning they could meet in the final. A silver medal in Paris would be enough to secure the series title for Australia.
Both nations recorded perfect records on day one with three straight victories to top their groups. Australia began with a 24-10 victory against Fiji, followed by a tense 24-20 defeat of Russia and finished the day with a convincing 31-14 win over Canada. New Zealand started the day with a hard fought 24-12 win over England, before beating Wales 54-7 and completing the day with a solid 17-0 defeat of Ireland.
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In front of an enthusiastic crowd hosts France showed their dominance to record three wins out of three with crowd pleasing victories over USA (14-5), Spain (20-0) and Japan (26-17). France are currently third in the series standings and will be hoping to secure a place on the podium on home turf.
Invitational team Wales created a moment of history by scoring their first ever try on their first series world series appearance against Ireland, despite going down in a 24-5 defeat.
The fifth and final round of the HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series 2018 sees three days of intense rugby sevens action in a combined event with the men’s series finale.
The men’s tournament begins on Saturday 9 June with Australia taking on Wales in the first game of the day at 09:00 local time. A large crowd is expected as the women’s action returns to the pitch at 15:02 local time.
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Latest Comments
It might be legal but he’s sailing pretty close to the wind. Not a lot needs to go wrong for Finau to end up in the bin. Was it late? Not quite, but borderline. High? A couple of CM within the laws, no room for error with that one. Did he wrap the arms? There was a token effort to wrap one arm, the intent was clearly to hit with the shoulder. So yeah, it’s legal, just. But as we all know, a very slight change in the dynamics could easily have him seeing red. Hopefully not when it really matters.
Go to commentsYou forget this is Rassie Erasmus who is still holding the Springbok keys. Even with Felix Jones orchestrating a really tight RWC SF last year. It still wasn't enough to get England past their particular Springbok Monkey in world cups. The reason is FJ was going off of what they did in 2019 not necessarily adapting to current Springboks. So yes, Australia can get passed England because let's be honest, England have a one track strategy, Springboks do not. Even with rush defense I wouldn't be surprised if Rassie continually tweaks it. Also bear in mind Rassie is happy to sacrifice a few mid year and inter World Cup matches to pin point how opposition plays and how to again tweak strategies to get his Springboks in peak performance for the next World Cup. As much as most teams like to win games in front of them and try to win everything, Rassie always makes sure to learn and train for the greatest showdown International Rugby has to offer. Tbh, most people remember World Cup wins and ignore intermediate losses as a result but will remember also WC losses, Ireland, even if they won games in the interim. So even if games are won against the Springboks, it's likely Rassie is just getting a feel for how opposition is moving and adapt accordingly…in time. For Rassie, a loss is never a loss because he uses it as a chance to learn and improve. Sometimes during a game, again like the England match in last year's Semi Final.
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