Australia Sevens impress in Cape Town as they top Pools

Sat, Dec 9, 2023, 11:04 PM
AAP
by AAP
Bienne Terita impressed as the Aussies dominated day one in Cape Town. Photo: World Rugby
Bienne Terita impressed as the Aussies dominated day one in Cape Town. Photo: World Rugby

Having swept to a dominant season-opening win at the Dubai Sevens, Australia's women again look in ominous form on leg two of the series in Cape Town. 

The Aussies cruised to victory in the Gulf last weekend, ending New Zealand's 41-match unbeaten streak in the final, and they kept their ruthless run going in South Africa on Saturday. 

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Spain (38-0), Japan (54-0) and Fiji (28-7) were swept aside in the group stage, with free-running Australia conceding only one try as they dominated their pool.

New Zealand and France also swept their groups.

Star of the show for the second week running was Maddison Levi, who added five more tries to her 12 in Dubai, taking the overall tally to 100 in 15 tournaments.  

“It’s pretty awesome. Coming out here, I guess my main job is to take each game as it comes and do what I need to do to get the game over the line. To reach 100 is pretty insane," Levi said on the milestone.

“We always go really well in Dubai, then come into Cape Town – we haven’t really won it, we won the World Cup here.

"I think it’s [not having won the World Series in Cape Town] motivation to prove that we can do it on this soil. Tomorrow we move on to quarter-finals and we’ll just try to keep the ball rolling.”

Australia will face Ireland in the quarter-finals on Sunday.

In the men's competition, Australia face a last-eight clash with South Africa, who are hunting a first home title since 2015.

Australia stunned defending champions Samoa before outclassing Canada to secure their spot on top on head-to-head.

The hosts' unbeaten start to the world series was ended in the pool stage by Ireland, who progressed to a quarter-final against New Zealand. 

Despite shock losses to Canada and Samoa, the Kiwis advanced to the knockout stage as one of the two best third-placed teams thanks to a 35-5 win over the pool-winning Aussies. 

Australia will be out for revenge in Cape Town after being brushed aside at the same stage by the Blitzboks in Dubai, before an eventual seventh-placed finish. 

“We’re riding the roller-coaster at the moment – we’re up-and-down, up-and-down – but definitely happy in the way we’re trending," vice-captain Maurice Longbottom believes.

“To come back from a big loss to New Zealand and put on the performance we did today [against Samoa], we’re pretty happy there. Whatever happened today happened – rock up tomorrow with the same goal; win three games and come out with a medal.”

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