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The Black Ferns Sevens and All Blacks Sevens have gone through the first day of the Rugby World Cup Sevens, with the women’s side not conceding a single point after two matches in San Francisco.
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The defending champion Black Ferns topped 100 total points scored after winning their first two matches 57-0 and 45-0 against Mexico and Ireland respectively.
They were led by captain Sarah Goss in their first match, who scored a hat-trick. Michaela Blyde and Portia Woodman scored two each and Stacey Waaka and Kelly Brazier added two more. Tyla Nathan-Wong made good on six of her conversion attempts.
In their second match of the day, the quarter-final against Ireland, Blyde again found her way across the chalk, increasing her tournament tally to five with a hat-trick of her own. Woodman and Waaka added to their respective tallies, with the former grabbing another double. Niall Williams rounded out the scoring and Nathan-Wong converted five tries.
Overall, the Black Ferns Sevens scored 16 tries and 102 points across their first two fixtures. They will meet the USA in their semi-final on Sunday morning.
Head coach Allan Bunting was pleased to be able to give all 12 players game time and secure possession for long periods of play.
“We achieved what we set out to achieve today. It was good to give everyone some game time, now we have to rest up and focus on tomorrow,” said Bunting.
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Your women's Championship semi-finals are:@BlackFerns v @USARugby @Aussie7s v @FFRugby
Both games will be played on Saturday at 11.42am and 12.04pm (GMT-7) pic.twitter.com/b4dmr1sYn1
— HSBC SVNS (@SVNSSeries) July 21, 2018
Clark Laidlaw’s All Blacks Sevens men’s side have advanced to their quarterfinal after dispatching Russia 29-5 in their only match of the day.
Joe Ravouvou was the standout for the All Blacks, scoring two tries.
“It was a long day but I’m really happy how the guys played, it’s good to get that first game under the belt after a few weeks off and it will set us up nicely for tomorrow,” said Laidlaw.
The All Blacks Sevens will meet France in their quarterfinal tomorrow. The French side upset Australia 22-17 with a late try.
The other stunning upset of the day was Scotland’s miracle comeback against Kenya. The Scottish side rallied from 26-0 down to win 31-26. Jamie Farndale’s late try took scores to 24-26 and a sideline conversion from Robbie Fergusson drew the scores level heading into the final restart. Farndale scored his second try shortly after to steal a famous victory.
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Your men's Championship quarter-finals are as follows:@Scotlandteam v @Blitzboks @USARugby v @EnglandRugby @unionargentina v @fijirugby @FFRugby v @AllBlack7s#RWC7s pic.twitter.com/RBK2uA6wfm
— HSBC SVNS (@SVNSSeries) July 21, 2018
Later in the day, Fiji survived an initial scare from Japan. The Flying Fijians recovered from a sluggish 10-7 first half deficit to win 35-10.
South Africa saw off Ireland 45-7 and host side USA also booked their place in the quarter-finals with a convincing 35-0 victory over Wales. Reigning Player of the Year Perry Baker was integral with a pair of tries.
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