42 - 19

22 - 19

43 - 14

45 - 30

29 - 13

24 - 23

37 - 10

32 - 27

22 - 24

32 - 13

21 - 10

30 - 26

23 - 33

57 - 17

35 - 18

17 - 36

12 - 8

Thursday

14:00

Friday

12:00

Friday

12:30

Friday

12:30

Friday

12:30

Friday

12:30

Friday

12:30

Friday

14:00

Friday

14:10

Sevens

Cape Town SVNS day one recap

By Josh Raisey

331 days ago

South Africa's Ronald Brown (R) celebrates with teammates after scoring a try during the men's HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2023 pool C match between South Africa and United States at the Cape Town stadium in Cape Town on December 9, 2023. (Photo by Rodger Bosch / AFP) (Photo by RODGER BOSCH/AFP via Getty Images)

Australia women look on course to win back-to-back titles after impressing on day one of the HSBC SVNS Cape Town.

The Dubai SVNS champions dominated on day one, only conceding one try and scoring a combined 120 points at the Cape Town Stadium. They are one of three unbeaten sides in the women’s draw, alongside New Zealand and France.

Those three progress to the quarter-finals tomorrow as pool winners, with Fiji, the USA and Ireland all coming second. The final two quarter-final berths go to Great Britain and Canada, who were the best third-place finishers.

Stormers coach John Dobson previews his team’s Round One Champions Cup encounter with Leicester Tigers

Ireland continued to show what a force they are on the men’s tour, finishing the day as the only unbeaten side. That included statement victory against hosts and last week’s Dubai champions South Africa in the final match of the day. Ireland exhibited some resilient defence in their 14-12 win and topped Pool A with their win.

Ireland progress with pool winners with Fiji and Australia, this is despite the latter heavily losing 35-5 to New Zealand earlier in the day, which included a first-half hat-trick to Leroy Carter.

Losses to Canada and Samoa meant New Zealand could only manage a third-place finish in their pool, but that was still enough to make it to the quarter-finals due to a superior points difference to Great Britain.

South Africa, Argentina and Canada all finished runners-up in their pools and will progress to the quarter-finals tomorrow, with France, who started the day with a last gasp penalty win against Fiji, taking the other spot for third-place finishers.

Australia women look destined for another title, while the men’s tournament is far tougher to call tomorrow.

Women’s quarter-final fixtures
Great Britain vs USA
Australia vs Ireland
France vs Fiji
New Zealand vs Canada

Men’s quarter-final fixtures
Argentina vs Canada
Ireland vs New Zealand
Australia vs South Africa
Fiji vs France

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Comments on RugbyPass

johnz 19 minutes ago

All Blacks talk late-game adjustments after clutch England win

I guess the other option would be to start ALB, he's looked good in the 12 so far when he starts and sets up those outside him. But that would mean putting the vice captain on the bench, which is unlikely. Another option would be to drop Reiko to the bench and play Proctor, though he's gone home so that's not going to happen either.

Both of those players just offer more of the soft distribution skills good centres learn from playing their careers there. Unfortunately that's what's lacking with the current combo.

11 Go to comments

ColinK 19 minutes ago

Are the All Blacks doomed to a 70% flatline?

Whatever let's see if this load of waffle is still valid in 2 years time. ABs will rise we have a lot of new talent coming through. The NPC was the highest standard for years. The game is changing to suit the fast pace we like to play. We get to play the Springboks more, including the franchises, which will make us better! Overall I am optimistic. I will add having watched the England game multiple times we made most of the play. England are an awesome physical team, but you can expect the All Blacks to get better and better at executing the chances. It could easily have been 5 tries to one instead of 3 to 1.

1 Go to comments

johnz 27 minutes ago

All Blacks talk late-game adjustments after clutch England win

Ratima did look rattled, compared to Roigard who looked like a boss when he came on. But that's been Roigard in test rugby so far. Ratima is only really starting because of Roigard's injury, otherwise surely Roigard was the incumbent. So it's not just one outing of the pine, that just points to Roigard being ready to have a start. As good as Ratima has been, Roigard just offers more.

11 Go to comments

GL 1 hour ago

How surprise opportunities led Harry Plummer to debut for All Blacks

Cody Taylor is a more significant loss than BB, not even close!

1 Go to comments

JD 1 hour ago

'I never heard from Gatland... It kills me to this day'

Won't see a player like him nor, hopefully, an arsehole like him either. Odious kant.

22 Go to comments

CO 1 hour ago

Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

I agree largely and I rate McKenzie as a wonderful utility at his best but now at twenty nine I wouldn't take him to the next world cup. I've never seen him as a a ten or a starter either at top tier test level. The bench needs a serious rethink with ideally a hybrid halfback/wing or a hybrid halfback/ten or a hybrid ten/centre to release that need for two relatively small guys on the bench.

32 Go to comments

RW 1 hour ago

“He’s given Connacht everything” – Bundee Aki’s future, and an exciting tactical innovation

Starting a go fund me for Bundee to Leinster 😜

3 Go to comments

CO 1 hour ago

How the All Blacks plan to challenge Ireland after gutsy England win

Unbelievable, the penalty count was so lopsided in last week's first half I'm certain the conspiracy theorists have already had a field day.

25 Go to comments

JWH 1 hour ago

How the All Blacks plan to challenge Ireland after gutsy England win

Good idea, but to move a lock to 6 now with no previous experience save Scott Barrett (who is still our best lock) ahead of the 2nd best equal team in the world may cause more harm than good in terms of confidence, in both caoches and players.

Re lineout options, the ABs have the most innovative lineout in the world, with FOUR lineout options (Barrett, Vaai, Sititi, Savea), compared to Irelands maybe 2 (Beirne and Ryan). ABs will absolutely cause issues at the lineout, and definitely at scrum time. Those Irish props eat to much salad compared to our boys 💪

25 Go to comments

JWH 1 hour ago

Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

I never said boring was bad, but it doesn't necessarily go hand in hand with the ABs style. The ABs 10 looks like this: a little magic, good offloads, tactical precision kicking, draw and pass, and a cool head to level it off.

A game manager isn't exactly necessary, as the ABs should all know what they are doing, and the 9 should be directing the forwards. However, considering the youth of our best 9s currently, a more vocal, directive, and logical player like Harry Plummer would make more sense than someone like DMac, who is in his own right a good 10, but tends to sit in wider channels where he can threaten the line more directly, so has less influence on the postioning of the narrower forwards.

32 Go to comments

Kia koe 2 hours ago

How the All Blacks plan to challenge Ireland after gutsy England win

Yep yep I agree

25 Go to comments

Icefarrow 2 hours ago

The ‘unsung hero’ who helped All Blacks’ bench make a telling difference

B-but all the armchair critics tell me he's useless and does little for the team but get penalised... This simply cannot be!

2 Go to comments

Thomas K 2 hours ago

England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

So you think you’d definitely have scored way more tries if it wasn’t for all the off the ball shots? 🤣🤣