The Levi sisters led the way again as Australia's classy women's sevens team won its fourth straight Dubai title by beating New Zealand in a thrilling final.
With the scores locked late in the decider, superstar winger Maddison Levi crossed for the decisive try to open the 2023-24 SVNS season with a 26-19 victory on Monday (AEDT).
That was Levi's 12th try of the weekend, breaking her own record for most tries in a tournament, set in Dubai last season.
Watch the World Rugby Sevens on the home of rugby, Stan Sport. Every round exclusive, ad free, live and on demand
Not to be outdone, younger sister Teagan scored two tries in the final and was named player of the match.
"It's amazing," Australia captain Charlotte Caslick said.
"She (Teagan) is unbelievable. She's had an amazing pre-season and we're all getting to see the hard work she's done this year.
READ MORE: NRL star issued please explain over 'embarrassing' comment
READ MORE: Playoff thriller clinches epic Australian Open
READ MORE: Selectors pick Warner as ball-tampering saga reignites
"We wanted to hold the ball as much as possible because we know when they (New Zealand) touch it, they are dangerous.
"So that was key, alongside the restarts."
Alysia Lefau-Fakaosilea was suspended for the final after copping a red card in the 21-14 semi-final win over France.
"It was disappointing to lose Lys (Lefau-Fakaosilea) for the final because she's so important to our team, but it shows the depth we've been creating and BB (Bienne Terita) stepped up and had a blinder."
Jorja Miller scored a hat-trick for New Zealand, which had won 41 straight games before the final.
Australia was the last team to beat the Black Ferns, in last year's Dubai final.
Meanwhile, Australia's men had to settle for seventh place after beating the United States 26-12 in a playoff.
Australia was earlier outclassed 24-7 by South Africa in the quarter-finals.
South Africa went on to beat Argentina 12-7 in the final and win a fifth straight Dubai title.
https://twitter.com/SVNSSeries/status/1731351917417144541?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
"It's been a big work on for us, consistency, and we haven't quite got there just yet," Australia coach John Manenti said.
"Obviously, it's a long season, it's the start point and, to be honest, we've got a lot of work to do. We did have a few boys re-entering from pretty decent injuries and it was their first bit of footy for a while, so they'll be better next week for that – and we had a few young guys on debut. No question, we've got to lift our standards for next week."
The series now moves to Cape Town next weekend.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.