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Australia’s women’s sevens team will take on the United States of America in the Perth Sevens semi-finals, but they’ll likely have to do it without their star outside back Maddison Levi.
In a dramatic quarter-final against New Zealand’s Black Ferns, Australia survived a second half scare to prevail against their trans-Tasman rivals and biggest threat to a second Olympic gold medal in July.
After the Black Ferns lost the physical and talented threat of Jorja Miller in the opening minute because of a head-on-head clash with Faith Nathan, Australia raced out to a 12-0 lead through Nathan and Madison Ashby.
Madison Ashby and Charlotte Caslick celebrate their dramatic quarter-final win over New Zealand at HBF Park on January 27, 2024 in Perth. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)
But the quarter-final turned on its head in the moments before half time as Levi, who was playing his first match of the tournament after being shown a red card in Australia’s final success in Cape Town last month, was shown another red card for a similar front-on, head-on-head clash that left her in tears. The incident occurred one day after her younger sister Teagan was shown a red card for another head clash, where the defender failed to drop their body height.
With the match down to six on six, New Zealand pounced through their tryscoring machine Michaela Blyde who scored twice in as many minutes to give the Black Ferns the lead and take the momentum.
However, it didn’t last as Bienne Terita found space and got away a splendid pass to Charlotte Caslick who put Australia back in front.
Some nice footwork from Dominique du Toit then sealed the deal, as Australia survived an almighty scare to progress through to the final four.
“We’ve made a bit of a habit unfortunately of playing for six,” Caslick said.
“I think we’ve joked about being called the Sydney Sixers moving forwards instead of Aussie women’s Sevens. But, it was a pretty gutsy performance. If there’s one thing we can’t doubt in this group is they’ve got a lot of courage. I’m really proud of them for continuing to show up.”
Asked how good it feels to beat the Kiwis, Caslick said her side had bigger things in their mind like taking momentum and trying to claw the Black Ferns’ seeding points down ahead of this year’s Olympics in Paris.
“It always feels good to beat the Kiwis,” she said.
“Obviously, overall, we’re trying to chase them down for top seed at the Olympics in July, so we’re edging closer every tournament which is our goal.”
Charlotte Caslick races away to score and put Australia back in front against New Zealand. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)
Former Wallaby Morgan Turinui said Australia’s discipline was increasingly becoming an issue, but said their resilience was something to be proud of.
“It’s already cost them once in the pool round, it probably should have cost them there,” Turinui said on Stan Sport.
“They’re just going to have to fix that discipline, especially around tackle height and dipping – they’ll work on that. The one word that I want to pull out is courage and that’s what they needed to show to win that match.”
Australia will take on the USA in the second semi-final on Sunday at 3:46pm, with Ireland and Great Britain to meet in the first after downing Fiji and Canada respectfully.
Meanwhile, after scraping through the pool stage, Australia’s men’s side smashed the USA 31-7 to set up a tough semi-final encounter against Fiji.
After suffering an agonising 19-14 golden point loss to the USA on day one, Australia flipped the script on their slow start to the Perth Sevens by shocking the North Americans in the final quarter-final of the night.
Captain Nick Malouf was at the heart of the win, scoring the opening try before stealing the crucial turnover that led to Australia’s second try.
The home side capped off their outstanding first half when Nathan Lawson scored out wide after the USA’s decision to try and run the ball back from deep in their own corner came back to bite them. Maurice Longbottom, who was brilliant on both sides of the ball in the match, once again scored out wide to open up a 21-0 half-time lead.
Making matters worse, after conceding a penalty at the breakdown for failing to release, speedster Perry Baker was shown a yellow card for playing the man in an offside position.
Australia took advantage of their numerical advantage early in the second half, as young gun Henry Palmer showed off his finishing ability by scoring inches in from touch.
The USA hit back when they were awarded a penalty try when Joe Schroeder was hit high out wide as he attempted to score.
But it mattered little, as Australia’s defence held firm and Ben Dowling scored a late try to finish the rout.
Australia will take on Fiji in the semi-final (4:34pm AEDT), with Ireland to play Argentina in the other knockout fixture.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.