The HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2023 returned to action as Australia, New Zealand and USA’s women, and Fiji, New Zealand and South Africa’s men claimed perfect win records on a sun-soaked first day at the HSBC New Zealand Sevens in Hamilton.
The women’s quarter-finals kick off day two at 22:30 (SA Time) when fans can look forward to Australia v Great Britain, USA v Fiji, France v Ireland and New Zealand v Japan.
The men’s quarter-finals begin at 23:58 (SA Time) and the line-up sees South Africa v France, Fiji v Argentina, USA v Australia and New Zealand v Ireland.
Men
South Africa was the form team in Pool D with three straight victories over Canada (34-5), Spain (19-12) and Argentina (17-14) to top the pool. Argentina secured wins against Canada (29-14) and Spain (20-5) with former HSBC World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year Marcos Moneta back in action and back on the scoresheet.
The All Blacks Sevens began with a convincing 45-0 win over Tonga before a hard-fought 21-19 victory over rivals Australia and finished the day with a flourish overcoming Great Britain 19-12 to take the top spot in Pool B. Australia claimed second place with invitational team Tonga in third following the surprise result of the day when they ended a 16-game losing streak, overcoming a 14 point half time deficit to beat Great Britain 26-21.
All Blacks Sevens Head Coach Clark Laidlaw said: “We had some really tough opponents today, especially the match against Australia. We are looking to continue our performance into day two.”
Fiji were cheered on by a large, colourful and vocal contingent in the crowd and did not disappoint their fans. The double Olympic champions got off to a flying start in Pool A with a 26-10 win over France in the second match of the day, before a 21-7 victory in a fierce encounter with Kenya and an outstanding 22-12 win against current Series leaders Samoa.
Following their gold medal triumph at the previous round in Cape Town, Samoa will be disappointed to miss out on a place in the quarter-finals in Hamilton after they were defeated 21-10 by France in an eventful match which involved one red and three yellow cards.
USA and Ireland qualified for the quarter-finals from a closely contested Pool C after beating Japan and Uruguay and playing out an entertaining 14-14 draw. Japan are currently in the automatic relegation position and will take encouragement after claiming their first pool match victory of the Series with a 24-19 win over newly promoted Uruguay.
The 2023 Series is shaping up to be the most competitive in history with the prize of Olympic Games Paris 2024 qualification on offer for the top four women’s and men’s teams in the 2023 Series standings, while hosts France have pre-qualified for next summer’s pinnacle event in the nation’s capital.
The Men’s Series has seen eight different teams reach the Cup semi-final stage, with all eight teams medalling across the first three tournaments. There have been three different gold medal winners (Australia, Samoa and South Africa), three different silver medallists (Fiji, Ireland and New Zealand), and three different bronze medal winners (France, New Zealand and the USA). Only New Zealand has medalled twice, while Samoa, South Africa and the USA have made the semi-finals twice.
Women
New Zealand’s Olympic champion women began with a 58-0 thrashing of Papua New Guinea – their biggest ever Series win – which included a hat-trick for Rugby World Cup winner Stacey Fluhler on her return to rugby sevens action.
The Black Ferns Sevens followed up with a 27-0 win against Olympic bronze medallists Fiji and wrapped up the day with a 20-0 victory over Great Britain to top Pool A without conceding a point. Fiji claimed an important 19-14 win over Great Britain to secure second spot in the pool and a place in the quarter-finals.
Black Ferns Sevens Head Coach Cory Sweeney was pleased with the performances: “To take the field in front of a home crowd was awesome, we really felt the support from fans and can’t wait to get back out there.”
World Series title holders and current leaders Australia will be looking to spoil the party on Sunday and they secured their progress to the quarter-finals from Pool B courtesy of wins over Japan (26-14), Canada (33-7) and France (43-0). France claimed second place in the pool with a victory over Japan and a draw with Canada, who were beaten 17-7 by Japan, their first-ever Series victory over Canada and enough to reach the quarter-finals.
USA’s women have reached the podium to claim bronze medals at both rounds of the 2023 Series so far and were in fine form again in Hamilton, beating Spain (31-12) with a first Series hat-trick from Cheta Emba, Brazil (41-0) and Ireland (15-7) to top Pool C. Ireland finished second thanks to wins over Spain and Brazil.
Cup Quarter Final Fixtures (SA Times)
Cup Quarter Finals - Women
22:30 Australia 7s vs Great Brittain 7s
22:52 USA 7s vs Fiji 7s
23:14 France 7s vs Ireland 7s
23:36 New Zealand 7s vs Japan 7s
Cup Quarter Finals -Men
23:58 Blitzboks vs France 7s
00:20 Fiji 7s vs Argentina 7s
00:42 USA 7s vs Australia 7s
01:04 New Zealand 7s vs Ireland 7s
