Black Ferns Sevens and All Blacks Sevens make world championships semifinals in LA
Brady Rush stars for All Blacks Sevens (file photo).
Photo:
Photosport/Iain McGregor
Both New Zealand teams have qualified for the semifinals of the sevens world championships in Los Angeles, but their paths to get there were dramatically contrasting.
It was a straight-forward procession for the Black Ferns Sevens, who crushed Canada 41-5 in the last of their three pool matches to make it a 16-game winning streak in world series matches this season since the Vancouver leg in February.
They beat Great Britain 41-21 and then Japan 50-7, before the victory over Canada.
But the All Blacks Sevens did it the hard way, keeping their championship hopes alive with a heart-stopping win 21-19 over Australia, after earlier beating Fiji 17-12 and losing to Spain 7-5.
The Australians claimed what would have been a match-winning try after the full-time siren, but replays couldn't show a clear grounding of the ball by Henry Hutchinson, leaving the New Zealanders, who came into the tournament seventh in the world series standings, jubilant.
Brady Rush was instrumental in the men's win, sprinting away for the try that put the New Zealanders ahead 21-19 after a splendid offload from Ngarohi McGarvey-Black, with just under three minutes left.
McGarvey-Black nearly spoilt things with a knock-on, leading to an intense Australian surge but the New Zealanders held on under huge pressure, despite giving away a few penalties.
In the last play of the game, Hutchinson claimed a try as he charged over with Rush and younger brother Rob two of the players trying to get under him, but the TMO ruled there was no evidence of the ball being grounded.
Because of points differential, the All Blacks Sevens had needed to win by at least two points to finish ahead of Australia in the pool.
Now they have a chance of being world champions at this winner-take-all tournament, despite a mediocre season up until now.
Worse was to come for the Australians, who went into the match top of the pool but finished the cut-throat match out of the semifinals, as Spain's late try against Fiji was enough to give them one of the four berths.
Spain, now a huge force in world sevens, needed to win by eight points or more to knock Australia out, and they beat Fiji 24-12 to claim top qualifying position from the pool.
In the women's division, the Black Ferns Sevens made the early play against Canada, with Michaela Brake and Jorja Miller scoring tries inside the first four minutes, before Carissa Norestan scored for Canada. But that was it for Canada, as the New Zealanders ran in five more tries.
Jazmin-Felix Hotham brought up 50 tries in world series matches with her first try against Canada, following up with her 51st just two minutes later, while Justine McGregor scored her first in just her second tournament on the tour.
The Black Ferns Sevens will play USA in their semifinal at 8.02am on Monday, while Canada play Australia in the other semi.
The All Blacks Sevens will play South Africa at 8.46am, with Spain and Argentina squaring off for a finals berth in the other match.
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