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New Zealand have once again shown they are the kings of rugby sevens, as both their men and women took out the respective Sydney Sevens tournaments.
As Australia’s men and women bombed out at the quarter-final stages, their trans-Tasman rivals extended their leads at the top of the World Series Sevens standings. While the men still face a fight to win the World Series in a hugely competitive top eight and hold a nine-point lead over South Africa, the women extended their lead over Australia to 12 at the top of the standings with three tournaments to go.
Sarah Hirini’s Olympic champions swept the floor against France, winning 35-0. The USA took third after edging past Ireland 12-5.
Moments later, the All Blacks followed their Black Ferns colleagues and smashed the Blitzboks 38-0. Fiji, meanwhile, took the bronze by smashing France 29-5.
Jorja Miller celebrates after New Zealand smashed France to win the Sydney Sevens at Allianz Stadium. Photo: Matt King/Getty Images
Earlier, Charlotte Caslick started the week by signing a new four-year deal. She finished it by becoming Australia’s greatest tryscorer in rugby sevens.
After drawing level with Ellia Green’s record of 141 tries against Great Britain, the 27-year-old scored a brace to lead Australia to a comprehensive 36-12 victory over Fiji to secure fifth at the Sydney Sevens.
The disappointment of missing out on the medal matches meant Caslick cared little for the personal milestone.
“I’ve been playing for so long and I’ve collected a few points. For me, I’m a ball player so I don’t really think too much about scoring,” she said.
“It was a good way to finish. I was pretty disappointed yesterday. We haven’t really respected the ball much this tournament, so I guess with that one it was pretty good that we held on to the ball against a really strong Fijian side.”
Charlotte Caslick broke Australia’s all-time tryscorer’s record by scoring a brace against Fiji in Sydney. Photo: Matt King/Getty Images
While Australia was left to rue a costly yellow card to Caslick during their 10-5 quarter-final loss against France – a decision World Rugby later admitted was wrong in an apology to Australian management – very little clicked for the home side.
The Triple Crown champions struggled with their ball retention and struggled to handle the physical French side that got in the face of the Australians.
But Caslick said the experience would likely be a beneficial one in the long run, with the reigning World Series champions facing a new sense of pressure by performing in front of their home fans after COVID-19 denied them the chance of playing the Sydney Sevens over the past two years.
“In the grand scheme of things we’re obviously looking forward to Paris next year and securing that qualification next year and then building towards that, so I think we’ve learned a lot out of this tournament.,” she said.
“We’ve still got a really young side. I think Teagen Levi was really great today and I think the experience that she’s got from this tournament will be huge for her development.”
Sariah Paki scored Australia’s third try against Great Britain during their fifth-placed semi-final win at Allianz Stadium on January 29, 2023 in Sydney. Photo: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images
Meanwhile, Australian men’s assistant coach James Standard described Sunday’s fifth-placed semi-final defeat as “really disappointing”.
After a heartbreaking 17-14 defeat to France in their quarter-final on Saturday night, Australia were blown away by Samoa 24-10.
Late tries to Derby Lancaster and Henry Patterson softened the margin, but Australia’s worst performance of the tournament meant they missed out on valuable points on the World Series standings.
Australia started the tournament in seventh spot on 52 points, but John Manenti’s side will slip down to eighth after collecting just 10 points. Only the top four at the end of this season’s tour automatically qualify for next year’s Olympics in Paris.
Players of Samoa and Australia clash after a rough tackle by Neueli Leitufia against Stu Dunbar at Allianz Stadium on January 29, 2023 in Sydney, Australia. Photo: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images
Nothing went right for Manenti’s side, with ball security a real issue on a hot and humid day in Sydney.
The home side conceded three first half tries, with Taunuu Niulevaea’s second try on the stroke of the half-time whistle a coach killer.
There was no way back when Faafoi Falaniko crossed shortly after half time and Melani Matavao slotted his second conversion.
Lancaster broke through to score before Patterson scored the simplest of tries to add some respectability to the scoreline.
Darby Lancaster crossed the line for a try in the second half against Samoa on Sunday afternoon in Sydney. Photo: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images
Standard said the performance did not live up to the side’s standards.
“That was really disappointing,” the former Super Rugby and Sevens star said.
“We pride ourselves in being consistent in our performances and we were far from that this weekend.
“I thought we had some momentous during the two days yesterday, but not good enough around our standards.”
As well as missing regular skipper Nick Malouf, who is due back for the Hong Kong Sevens, Australia lost acting captain Henry Hutchison to what appears to be a serious knee-injury.
But Stannard said Australia were accepting any excuses and needed to be better.
“No, we’re footy players at the end of the day and each one of those blokes has a role out there whether it’s around leadership or not,” he said.
“We had some experienced guys there with Nathan Lawson and Mozza [Maurice Longbottom] out there. Footy’s footy, we’ve got to stick to our roles and what we’re trying to get out of our games, and we didn’t unfortunately in that game. We went away from our structure and what we wanted to do.”
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.