The New Zealand Sevens women completed a double in North America on the 2024 SNVS Series, claiming gold at the LA SVNS 2024 a week after they won in Vancouver, while there were plenty of upsets for the men, with France winning their first gold in 19 years.
The weekend saw several records broken and personal milestones achieved and the attention next turns to the Cathay / HSBC Hong Kong Sevens 2024.
Feature Photo: Mike Lee – KLC fotos for World Rugby
For the women, New Zealand beat Australia 29-14 with a Michaela Blyde hat trick to claim the title, while the French and GB clashed in the men’s final with the French beating a brave and injury-plagued GB team 21-0 at Dignity Health Sports Park. This is also the proposed Olympic Games LA 2028 rugby sevens competition venue.
France’s William Iraguha said: “I’m so proud of the group. We worked so hard for this and we’ve been waiting for it for such a long time. Last year we lost in the final, it was my first final personally, but I think we all had this feeling that it must be today. I don’t think I have really realised yet. When I get back home and spend time with my family I’ll get to realise what has happened. I don’t think I have much more words to explain how I feel.”
Photo Credit: France Rugby
The Men’s quarterfinals sprung several upsets as Ireland knocked out Argentina (the Irish went on to win bronze), and Spain beat Fiji coming from 19-0 down, while GB got the best of Australia – the knockouts featured many yellow cards.
It was Spain’s first Cup semi-final in HSBC SVNS history at the twelfth attempt having lost their previous 11 quarter-final appearances.
The results also saw NZ and SA fight for the bottom four places with Blitzboks finishing in 11th place at the HSBC SVNS Los Angeles and NZ 10th, for both their worst finishes this season.
The New Zealand women have now closed the gap with leaders Australia in the SVNS table to just four points.
Blyde said: “I’m so proud of the girls. We’ve been looking for that kind of consistency the whole season, so to do that over the last two weeks feels really good. It’s tough at the top but we love having the target on our back and the Aussies have been incredible this whole season so to chase them has been quite fun and we’re just really stoked to get the win today.”
The USA women managed to claim bronze at home, beating rivals Canada 21-7.
South Africa progressed to the quarter-final stage for the first time this season, and finished 6th overall, while Brazil finished seventh – both earning valuable rankings points in the fight to avoid the end-of-season relegation play-offs.
Milestones And Records Tumble At LA SVNS 2024
- Australian Sharni Smale (nee Williams), All Black Portia Woodman-Wickliffe, and French women’s 7s player Chloe Pelle all lined up for their 50th tournament appearance in LA.
- For the home team, USA Rugby 7s men’s star Kevon Williams also played his 50th series tournament.
- USA Eagles ‘Speedstick’ Perry Baker rose to second on the all-time men’s series try-scorers list – chasing down the 279 tries of Kenyan legend Collins Injera – He has also confirmed he will retire from Sevens after the Paris Olympics.
- NZ teammate scrum-half Tyla King (nee Wong) became the most prolific woman in HSBC SVNS history and overtook former Canada star Ghislaine Landry (1,356 points) at Dignity Health Sports Park
- Ireland’s Terry Kennedy reached 100 SVNS tries.
Japan Sakura 7s – La SVNS 2024 Results
Photo credit: Mike Lee – KLC fotos for World Rugby
- Japan 7-35 France
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Japan 5-46 Australia
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Japan 12-26 Ireland
- Japan 14-12 Spain (9th place SF)
- Japan 24-19 GB (9th place Final)
Results from all the LA SVNS matches can be viewed here.
The sixth round of HSBC SVNS 2024 takes place in Hong Kong China on 5-7 April.
SVNS Series Rugby News 2024
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