Teagan Levi sees red as Great Britain stun hometown favourites Australia

Great Britain stunned the home crowd at Perth’s HBF Park on Australia Day as the hosts’ women’s team had their perfect start to the season undone after another red card.

Australia emerged as the team to beat in the women’s SVNS Series after taking out Cup final glory in the season’s opening two legs in Dubai and Cape Town last month.

There was an abundance of expectation, hype and pressure following the Aussies into their home event over the long weekend, and it seemed to be going to plan early.

Black Fern Jazmin Felix-Hotham talks to RugbyPass and delivers one of the all-time interviews | Perth SVNS

Black Fern Jazmin Felix-Hotham talks to RugbyPass and delivers one of the all-time interviews | Perth SVNS

Youngster Bienne Terita scored after about 30 seconds in Australia’s opening match on Friday, and that set the tone. They went on to beat South Africa 31-nil on the west coast.

But in one of the final matches of the day, Australia’s unbeaten start to the 2023/24 season came to an end. Teagan Levi was sent from the field for a high shot and the rest was history.

While fireworks lit up the Perth sky above the stadium, team GB fought their way into the lead and held on for a now-famous 19-12 victory.

“We’ve been working on getting our tackle height down but I guess for Teags, she was going in with some really good intent and I’d never discourage her from the intent that she has,” Australia captain Charlotte Caslick told reporters.

“With the way that they’re policing the tackle laws now we have to make sure that last moment, we’re dipping into contact.

“It might be a record I think. Three tournaments and three red cards.

“We say that courage is our currency and it’s the backbone of this team and working hard,” she added.

“The next part of that is probably just being a bit smarter and we can’t just be good athletes, we’ve got to be good footballers too.

“I think next steps forward is just learning from our mistakes. Walshy likes to say we’re either winning or we’re learning so we’ll definitely take a few things out of that.”

Tegan Levi is the third Australian women’s player to be sent from the field in the 2023/24 season. Alysia Lefau-Fakaosilea was the first at the Dubai SVNS in December.

But more recently, Teagan’s sister Maddison Levi – who has been arguably the form player of the season so far on the circuit – was shown a red during the Cape Town SVNS decider.

“I definitely won’t be telling her to change how she plays,” Caslick said.

“I think her aggression and the intent in which she carries the ball and she tackles is one of her best attributes.

“Obviously we don’t want to keep giving away red cards. We know we can’t win games all the time with six players.

“We still showed some pretty good fight. I know Tegs will be really disappointed to have had that red card. She probably feels that she let us down but we definitely won’t be telling her to change her style.”

Australia isn’t first in their SVNS pool at the moment and it’s fair to say that it’s an unfamiliar position for them to be in.

At times this season, the Aussies have appeared almost unbeatable. New Zealand’s 41-game unbeaten run came to an end in the Dubai final, and it seemed like the start of Australia’s own legacy.

But the Australians lost on Friday night. It was a defeat, and one they were visibly frustrated and disappointed by, but it doesn’t have to define their campaign either.

“We didn’t expect to go through and be undefeated all season,” coach Tim Walsh said.

“It’s never linear which is why we say ‘we’re winning or learning.’  Sometimes it’s both, sometimes it’s just learning so this one’s definitely a learning game.”