Day two of the HSBC Sydney Sevens Women’s Cup competition was dominated by Australia and New Zealand who will meet in the Cup final on Day Three. England won the Challenge Trophy beating Fiji.
It is the Cup final the crowd has been waiting to see. A Trans-Tasman clash between the Olympic champions Australia, who won the opening series tournament in Dubai, and current HSBC Women’s Sevens Series champions New Zealand.
Hosts Australia had no trouble with Spain in the quarter-finals winning 29-0 and proved far too strong for Russia in the semi-finals. The 31-0 win meant Australia reached the final without conceding a single point in their five matches to date.
Australia coach Tim Walsh was enthusiastic about the defensive record, “The defence has been the most pleasing aspect for me, and the girls have shown desire, hunger and attitude in that area.”
“It has been effective defence also not just passive. We have done a lot of practice but we do have three different strategies and its great to see them coming to fruition.”
New Zealand led by the scoring machine Portia Woodman easily saw off Ireland in their quarter-final 36-0 before facing last year’s HSBC Sydney Sevens winners Canada. New Zealand powered to a victory in the warm conditions to set up a final with Australia, the first since Clermont in 2017.
New Zealand coach Allan Bunting said, “The three day tournament structure is new for us playing over three days with a three, two, one format with the first day the hardest, but we knew what to expect. We have managed it well and now face Australia on day three in the final. They are a very consistent team and it will be a step up.”
Meanwhile in Women’s Challenge Trophy semi-final action England beat Papua New Guinea to set up a final against Fiji who were to strong for Japan. In the final England were always ahead, despite a second half resurgence from Fiji and ran out 29-10 winners.
Source: www.worldrugby.org
