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Post-Olympics is a weird old time in rugby sevens. Many teams are going through retirements, revamps and resets.
As a consequence, there are a fair few, let us just say, unusual results. For example, the Japan women flogged Canada in the opening match and defeated them again later in the play-off stage. In reality, most of the Olympic silver medallist’s players were not there. Similarly, a lot of the USA women team were not there. Many of the Canadian and USA players are over in the UK plying their trade in the 15s Premiership. No doubt part of their World Cup prep.
The Fiji women have really dropped off and did not win a game. On the flip side, the Fiji men are getting it together again and took out the tournament. It was their first in a while.
There were weird results in the men’s tournament also. The USA lost to both Spain and Uruguay. And who had Spain defeating New Zealand twice and ending up with a silver medal as runner-up to Fiji?
The only thing that was not unusual was Australia and New Zealand meeting in the women’s final. With Canada and USA down on troops, there is potentially a bigger gap than normal between the Aussies/Kiwis and the rest.
A bit of a highlight was China. They have been promoted to the big leagues. Despite being put to the sword by the Aussie women, they pushed Ireland and defeated Fiji twice but then lost to Brazil. It will be interesting to see them develop.
Australian Sevens women
After the disappointing fade-out in Paris, the win in Dubai would be a great tonic for the players and coach to start the season. You could not wipe the smile off the face of new captain Bella Nasser. How good; first tournament as captain and you win the whole thing.
With all the injuries, the women’s team really has a set, experienced starting line-up. However, apart from Demi Hayes, the bench features an array of generally new faces. The starting line-up is locked in with Nasser, Charlotte Caslick, Maddi Levi, Teagan Levi, Tia Hinds, Sariah Paki and Faith Nathan.
There’s no need to mention Maddi Levi in much detail; just expect ridiculousness. She scored 15 tries, a new record for a tournament, passing Portia Woodman’s record of 14. The reality is with changes to the tournament format Levi’s record is likely to stand forever.
(Photo by Christopher Pike/Getty Images)
It is almost boring to highlight Charlotte Caslick too. But here she is again, the Player of the Final. Not sure how she keeps doing it, her work rate continues to be astounding. You would think as she debuted way back in 2013, she may take it a bit easier, or play less minutes… but no.
I’m not usually one for hyperbole, and I’m not sure where you would put it, but if there is an Australian female rugby player who deserves a statute, I reckon it’s Caslick.
A couple of unsung heroines are Nathan and Hinds. Nathan racked up her 100th Series try in Dubai and if it was not for Maddi Levi’s scoring feats, she would probably have a few more tries and a tad more recognition. Hinds is just a really smart player. She does not make the highlight reels but is the perfect 2IC playmaker to Caslick. Also, she is the vital conversion and restart kicker. Like Caslick and Nathan, she plays big minutes which is an indicator of her value.
Lastly, it is always great to see a player return from an ACL, so it was nice to see Demi Hayes in her return, play good minutes, score a try and get a gold medal.
Australian Sevens men
This will be short and sweet. Despite finishing seventh, missing Maurice Longbottom and Dietrich Roache, having no Nick Malouf (retired), fielding a team that included four players aged 19/20, and the team being coached by the manager Scott Bowen, they actually played pretty well. They were lucky to get into the quarter-finals with just one win in the pool stage but sometimes that’s all you need to do to progress.
It did not start well with losses to South Africa 17-0 and France 14-10 but the Aussies came back with a solid 31-14 win over Kenya who earlier had defeated South Africa.
The team sure missed Longbottom and Roache in the quarter-final. They missed four conversions and ended up losing the game by just two points. But they finished on a positive with a win over Great Britain.
It seemed Bowen gave the youngsters some good minutes which is important. New coach Liam Barry was in Dubai watching, not sure when he takes the reins.
A couple of takeaways
1. They have a bit of size to them these days with Michael Icely, Nathan Lawson, Henry Paterson, James Turner and 19-year-old Aden Ekanayake. Paterson in particular had a terrific tournament, including scoring a hat-trick in one game and he looks to be back to his 2023 best. With Lawson going to the NRL, Icely is a good replacement.
2. As one of the commentators said, the Aussie men were struggling to score tries. They were missing a bit of X-factor and out-and-out pace that other teams seem to have. At times, they had a lot of possession but could not break down the defence. In the three pool games they scored just seven tries. So there is a bit of a work required offensively.
Next stop: Cape Town this weekend.
Interestingly, World Rugby has changed the SVNS Series format. In Cape Town, there will be four pools of three teams. Usually it is three pools of four teams. There has not been any formal announcement of the details at this stage. No doubt it is a cost-saving issue.
On social media, there are indications that maybe the top of each pool goes straight into the semi-finals with no quarter-final stage. Those that come second in the pool may play off in a plate final.
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