Despite Maddison Levi almost twice getting her side out of jail, Australia’s women’s side have suffered a disappointing final day at the Vancouver Sevens by going down to France 21-19 in their semi-final before losing to host-nation Canada 19-14 in the bronze medal match.
As Portia Woodman-Wickliffe starred by scoring a hat-trick in New Zealand’s clinical 35-19 win over France to take out Vancouver Sevens, Australia’s women’s coach Tim Walsh was left with much to ponder after his side’s third day fade out.
Australia once again heavily relied on some Levi magic throughout the pointy end of the competition, but not even her late try more than a minute into stoppage time against France on Monday morning AEDT could save the women in gold as Dominque du Toit’s attempted match-levelling conversion sailed wide.
Du Toit, Australia’s most improved player, was naturally devastated after missing the conversion as she “sorry” to her teammates following the miss. It came seconds after her lovely left-to-right cut-out pass put Levi away.
She need not have been sorry, with du Toit regularly asked to clean up Australia’s untidy play in recent months, including against France in their semi-final.
“We had our opportunities, right? And it was going either way,” veteran Sharni Smale told RugbyPass. “We’d score, they’d score.
“It comes down to those tough matches to really take those opportunities and make something of it.
“We faced adversity in Perth and we’re facing it again here so it’s really down to discipline for us. That was our keyword coming in here and we probably haven’t executed that how we wanted to.
“This is footy and sevens is brutal. Sometimes you can learn from them, that’s our motto, ‘you’re either winning or you’re learning.’
“We’ll go out there and we’ll learn from that. These things happen.”
Australia’s Kaitlin Shave was one of her side’s best in Canada, but the World Rugby Sevens rookie couldn’t steer her side into the final after going down to France at BC Place on February 25, 2024 in Vancouver. (Photo by Christopher Morris/Getty Images)
Earlier, Madison Ashby, who copped a three-match ban earlier in the tournament, scored a fabulous solo try as Les Bleus fell for her dummy.
But for the rest of the first half Australia struggled to break the French line, as they forced the women into gold into errors through their rush defence and physicality.
Tries to Seraphine Okemba and Camille Grassineau saw the French take a 14-7 lead, before Levi did what she so often does by brushing away Anne-Cecile Ciofani and then showing her raw pace and powe to score.
Ciofani once again gave France a converted try lead when she scored in the 10th minute as she stepped past Lily Dick and Charlotte Caslick, before Levi stormed onto a superb du Toit pass to score.
Australia’s tough day continued as Canada gave the home fans something to cheer about.
The excitement started early for Canada, as speedster Krissy Scurfield burnt Australia to give the home side a 7-0 lead.
Ashby did what she did earlier on day three by scoring a long-range try after fooling the Canadian defence.
But without the physical and explosive presence of Bienne Terita for the tournament, Australia’s desire to use width routinely swallowed up by the Canadian defence.
Two quick tries to Chloe Daniels and Charity Williams turned the tables on Australia, before Levi got Australia back to within five points in the final minute. But the home side’s defence once again held up, as Canada sealed a memorable third-place.
Canada celebrates a win against Australia for a third place finish at the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series at BC Place on February 25, 2024 in Vancouver. (Photo by Christopher Morris/Getty Images)
Meanwhile, Australia’s men’s team had a disastrous tournament after winning just one of five matches.
Without livewire Maurice Longbottom, Australia lacked potency in attack and looked flat all weekend.
After going down in all three pool matches to a much-improved Samoan side (31-7), the USA (26-21) at the death and France (31-5), John Manenti’s side scraped home against Spain (19-14) before losing their ninth-placed match against South Africa (24-7).
Former Wallabies captain Michael Hooper is in line to make his first start for Australia next weekend in Las Angeles, as he tries to push his selection case ahead of the Olympics.
But all the attention on the men’s side of the draw was on how Antoine Dupont, the 2021 World Rugby player of the year, would transition back to the sevens game as he tries to make France’s team for the Paris Olympics.
Having burnt Australia during their pool match, Dupont showed off his immense class by steering them into the semi-finals.
Not only was his defence and ability at the ruck on show, the master halfback was at his cunning best as he played the short side from a scrum to score at the death against Ireland to lead France into the semi-finals.
New Zealand won their semi-final 28-26, but Dupont once again showed his quality, coming off the bench, as he did most of the weekend, to help France claw their way back into the contest by scoring two late tries.
But the All Blacks’ run ended there as Argentina continued their incredible World Series tournament by smashing them in the final 35-12 to cement themselves as Olympic gold favourites.
Mungbean74
Roar Rookie
Also Bienne Terita is sorely missed. The Aussie women have had to play a few inexperienced players of late and I think that tells. In the long run it’ll hopefully pay off though and they can kick in to gear again in the second half of the season.
Rongowhakaata
Roar Rookie
Their team are peerless at the moment. With a devastating combination of physical and athletic forwards with very fast and gifted backs. Generational players I’m my opinion. We seem to have no real depth in our forwards with no-one coming through at the a moment apart from Leroy Carter who is more a hybrid player. Plus poor defending by our newer backs. Bringing back our thirtysomethings tells you something. I have question marks over Cama’s credentials. But a lack of depth is not on him this early in his stint.
Muzzo
Roar Rookie
Yep Levi, is a noticeable admission, along with those two Polynesian girls.
Muzzo
Roar Rookie
Feel sorry for the Levi sisters with their recurring suspensions that should've been originally attended to by coach Tim Walsh. Teach them to tackle lower, as they should've. Yes the Aussie girls did, like other teams have quality personal missing, some with injury, or otherwise, as it was noticed with the Maori girl Madison Ashby, how she returned with a bang. Du Pont, has adjusted to the Seven's game, but he too, is still learning as his game is not that perfect as yet. The Yellow card attests to that. Even in the men's side of the tournament, we see many coming back, after injury, & there's still more to come.
Muzzo
Roar Rookie
As it is now, the Pumas have over a 20% winning record against the AB7’s. Must be remembered that we are only half way through the World Series tournaments, & with many players yet to come back from injury etc, we’ll see improvements in virtually all these 12 core teams!
Hoy
Roar Guru
Aussie women as suffering a bit through cards, and personnel changes... They are looking a bit scrappy at times, with poor passes, dropped ball, physically dominated at the ruck. Hopefully, next tourny, having had noone red carded this time around, we will have some consistency, and can put it all together. They started the season red hot, and I hope they can get back to that level. There is an over reliance upon M Levi wide, and she was heavily marked this weekend. That should have created space in the middle to be exploited, but we just couldn't quite make it work this weekend. Watching all this season, I still can't quite work out how the refs interpret the rules of 7s rucks. There seems to be no need to sustain one's own weight at times, the release of the tackled player is tenuous sometimes, and at other times, refs need to see a few weeks between the tackle and the jackle... It's a big lottery, the 7s ruck.
Anibal Pyro
Roar Rookie
I do not Know if these Argie team will win a medal or even the svns 2024 due to format issues. But since 6 months ago they are without any question the best in the world. First time in history that Argentina are the best in the world in rugby. At sevens of course. Perhaps some day we lift the Web Ellis. I thought I would die without seeing Pumas beating Abs, and I saw it twice already. So we fans are allowed to dream
Anibal Pyro
Roar Rookie
And depth. The likes of Isgro, Grazziano, Revol, Fraga, coming off the bench its a hammer
Hugh_96
Roar Pro
The Aussie women towards the end looked cooked. As for the men, no idea what went wrong except it’s a reminder how tough the SVNS Series, except for Argentina.
Reds Harry
Roar Rookie
A complete sevens team - pace, power, flair, precision, cohesion, consistency - playing at an incredibly high standard atm, well ahead of what IMO is a very high quality competition.
Anibal Pyro
Roar Rookie
Pumas won!! again!!! A beat up of ABs. never seen an Argie team destroying NZ at rugby like these guys
Anibal Pyro
Roar Rookie
Last 5 tournaments, 4 gold 1 silver, with the 3 last finals, 3 golds . Go Pumas!!
Reds Harry
Roar Rookie
Easy enough win to the Black Ferns in the final as they stood up to the French defence and then struck quickly. Great to see the old school dive pass on display from the Black Ferns, they use it regularly. Argentina win the men again, dominating the second half of the final. Incredible run of form from this team, think thats 3 straight now?
Anibal Pyro
Roar Rookie
Added :thumbup:
East Coast Aces
Roar Rookie
Sad to hear about the Aussie womens team. They play a very structured game compared to the other womens team. Which I think might help them be very consistent but I do wonder if it leaves them too reliant on Faith Nathan and Maddi Levi scorching people on the outside. As defence and physical performance is improving from other teams, we may need to look at something a bit different in the middle. But this also could be because they didn't have Alyssia in the middle who has great skills but a big power game too.
Ankle-tapped Waterboy
Roar Rookie
What beats me is New Zealand hosting the final, in Vancouver. That's quite a Pacific Empire, there.
Reds Harry
Roar Rookie
Our girls pinned down in their own half for too long in both their semi and 3rd place playoff for narrow losses. As they say, if they aren't winning, they are learning. Other teams stepping up, the young Canadians very fast. Lacked a bit of hard middle runners with no Tegan Levi, Bienne Terita, Alysia Lefau-Fakaosilea and pushed a few passes. Its noticeable they are also making a conscious effort on defence to go lower after all their cards and suspensions. One whinge - the other teams still going in high all the time and only getting penalised at worst. France had 3 or 4 high shots in the semi. Men were of course disappointing. Tough competition.
FatOldHalfback
Roar Rookie
Tough tournaments for both teams. The men looked quite flat, hopefully the addition of Hooper will spark the team. The women were again in with a good chance but France have been charging. Congrats to Caslick on her 50th tournament.
Anibal Pyro
Roar Rookie
So Christy, NZ won the men s semifinal, and will play the final versus...?? Let me add the other finalist.. Argentina.