The Australian Sevens sides have endured mixed fortunes as they play their final weekend of the 2025 season, doing battle in the Cape Town leg of the 2025-26 SVNS World Series.
In sweltering conditions in Cape Town, the Aussie Women, hungry for revenge after their Dubai winning streak was broken in the Final by New Zealand, hit the ground running with a commanding victory over France, before overcoming a determined Canada.
Watch the 2025-2026 HSBC SVNS Series live and on demand via Stan Sport.
Bridget Clark, Kahli Henwood, and Kiiahla Duff have joined the 13, with the side set to play Japan in their remaining pool matches.
The Men, coming off their own trans-Tasman defeat to the Kiwis in the Final, have had a difficult start going down heavily to Argentina, followed by a close loss to Spain.
Beau Morrison is set for his debut, with Ben Dowling returning to the squad as they prepare for France.
With both sides coming into the match having never lost a pool game in Cape Town, the Aussie Women proved triumphant, starting their campaign in ruthless fashion against France.
The Aussies made things difficult for themselves early on, with Teagan Levi failing three consecutive restarts; however, the French struggled to capitalise with errors of their own and fell apart at the breakdown, with Heidi Dennis, Kahli Henwood and Madi Levi all grabbing tries from long-range counterattack.
A French knock-on at halftime saw Isabella Nasser nab the Aussies' fourth, with Madison Ashby scoring her first try on her return to Sevens early in the second half to put the result beyond doubt.
Valentine Lothoz was sent to the bin for hair-pulling on Bienne Terita, adding further misery for the French, with Nasser scoring her second. Terita got her revenge with a try off several penalties in the final minute, with France unable to capitalise after the siren.
Argentina came into this clash having won their last five matches against Australia, and they put a disappointing opening weekend in Dubai firmly behind them.
The South Americans dominated possession early on, scoring off Santiago Mare, with the Aussies struggling both for possession and capitalising with the ball in hand. The four-time Cape Town finalists' pressure stifled the breakdown, with Marcos Moneta pouncing on a kick through to give them a two-try lead at halftime.
Luciano Gonzalez provided a crucial score after the break, seeing the floodgates open as Matteo Graziano followed shortly afterwards.
The Australians' woes with errors and lack of possession continued, and when Gonzalez nabbed his second and the Argentines' fifth, the match was beyond doubt with two minutes to play. An error off the lineout from the Australians saw Graziano nab his second to put the icing on the cake.
The Canadians drew first blood through Kennedi Stevenson; however, the Aussies struck back immediately through a long-range effort from Madison Ashby.
From that moment, the Aussies took control, with Faith Nathan scoring two tries before halftime.
Asia Hogan-Rochester pulled one back for the visitors after halftime, but Isabella Nasser returned fire in quick succession. Carmen Izyk would get the last laugh after full-time, but the Aussies did enough to pick up their ninth straight win over Canada, sitting at the top of their pool with a match in hand.
Spain hit the ground running, with Anton Legorburu Anso scoring inside the first 30 seconds to have the Aussie Men behind early.
However, Dietrich Roache struck back just as quickly to claim the lead, before Eduardo Lopez returned fire, with Jayden Blake being shown a yellow card. Despite being a man down, the Aussies struck immediately through James McGregor, with the scores level at halftime.
After both sides were denied tries early in the second half, Roache finally broke the deadlock with a long-range effort. Spain bounced back through Roberto Ponce, converting the try to grab a valuable two-point lead, with a crucial knock-on off the restart proving the difference.
The Aussie Women have topped Pool B in Cape Town, overcoming Japan to post their third win.
Tries to Faith Nathan, Maddison Levi and Kahli Henwood saw the Women take an imposing 17-0 lead at halftime, with Levi, Heidi Dennis and Ruby Nicholas adding to the tally in the second half to put the match beyond doubt.
Mayu Yoshino provided a consolation try for Japan after the siren, by the Aussie Women have cruised through to the semis.
The men have lost their three pool matches to finish bottom of Pool B, with France opening up a lead in the first half thanks to a double from Liam Delamare and a third Jordan Sepho.
William Cartwright would score at halftime to give the Aussies hope, but tries to Diego Miranda and Enahemo Artaud put the match beyond doubt, with Dietrich Roache scoring a consolation try at fulltime.
The Men will now head into a fifth-placed semi-final against fellow Dubai finalist, New Zealand.
2. Amahli Hala – 3 events
3. Faith Nathan – 33 events
4. Mackenzie Davis – 7 events
5. Teagan Levi – 26 events
6. Madison Ashby (c) – 26 events
10. Isabella Nasser (c) – 18 events
12. Maddison Levi – 27 events
13. Heidi Dennis – 7 events
14. Bridget Clark – 7 events
15. Kahli Henwood – 7 events
22. Bienne Terita – 17 events
23. Ruby Nicholas – 11 events
28. Kiiahla Duff – 7 events
1. Henry Hutchison (c) – 60 events
2. Ben Dowling – 21 events
3. James McGregor – 3 events
4. Dietrich Roache – 29 events
7. Josh Turner – 38 events
9. Will Cartwright – 1 event
10. Ben Dalton – 10 events
13. Jayden Blake – 7 events
22. Beau Morrison* – debut
23. Aden Ekanayake – 8 events
24. Ethan McFarland – 1 event
33. Harry Wilson – 1 event
77. Wallace Charlie – 2 events
*Denotes possible debut
- Saturday, December 6: Australia v France (7:22pm AEDT)
- Saturday, December 6: Australia v Canada (10:38pm AEDT)
- Sunday, December 7: Australia v Japan (2:04am AEDT)
FINALS
- Sunday, December 7: Australia v USA (9:00pm AEDT) - SEMI FINAL
- Saturday, December 6: Australia v Argentina (9:00pm AEDT)
- Sunday, December 7: Australia v Spain (12:16am AEDT)
- Sunday, December 7: Australia v France (3:57am AEDT)
FINALS
- Sunday, December 7: Australia v New Zealand (7:44pm AEDT) - FIFTH-PLACED SEMI-FINAL
