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‘It shows the heart the girls have’: Charge down secures dramatic draw for Dutch
Netherlands captain Linde van der Velden admitted her side were “lucky” to have Lieve Stallmann after the full-back saved them from a debut WXV 3 defeat with a dramatic charge down.
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The Dutch built an 8-0 lead within eight minutes against Samoa at The Sevens Stadium in Dubai but were unable to capitalise on that fast start against a team that played in the level above during the inaugural edition of WXV.
Samoa narrowed the deficit through a 26th-minute Cassie Siataga penalty and the fly-half had the opportunity to win the match with the final kick after Ana-Lise Sio had breached the resolute Dutch defence with the clock in the red.
At that point, the match looked over. Van der Velden admitted afterwards she had “one knee on the floor because the tank was empty” while Sylke Haverkorn was the only member of her coaching team to remain in the coaches’ box to watch the conversion.
Crucially, though, one player – full-back Stallmann – refused to give up on the result and she timed her run perfectly to get her hands to Siataga’s attempt.
“We were lucky with Lieve, who has that amazing speed,” Van der Velden said.
“I think that shows the heart the girls have for each other. I mean, Lieve made some mistakes in the game, but she then turns it around and she does that for the team.
“I mean, there were a few really big girls, and we had some smaller girls but they put their bodies on the line and they just go for each other, and that is also what you can’t really teach people.
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“That shows the heart they have for, not just us, for the country, for the families we represent and that will bring us to the next level I think.”
With the Netherlands and Samoa among the five teams in WXV 3 competing for two tickets to Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 in England, Stallman’s intervention could prove to be huge.
But Samoa coach Ramsey Tomokino refused to single out the usually metronomic Siataga for any criticism post-match.
“We had opportunities, it wasn’t down to one kick,” he said. “Obviously, the Netherlands did a very good job there in charging the kick down.
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“You know, you do have to question the shot clock being at 60 seconds for a conversion. We might have over-celebrated the try and it was 90 seconds, they’ve reduced it to 60.
“So, it is quite tough and she was rushed into the kick but we had ample opportunity to score earlier, potentially and put the game out of reach.
“Netherlands were dogged, stayed in the fight and we’ve just got to look at the mistakes that we made.”
Earlier on Saturday, Fiji kicked off their campaign with a comfortable 38-3 defeat of Hong Kong China.
Fijiana raced into a 10-0 lead inside five minutes thanks to tries from Ana Korovata and Kolora Lomani.
However, Fung Hoi-ching scored Hong Kong China’s first ever points in WXV with a penalty in the 15th minute and it took Fiji until the final play of the first half to cross the whitewash for a third time, Karalaini Naisewa dotting down at the base of an attacking scrum.
Fiji ran in three further tries in the final 22 minutes as Repeka Adi Tove wrapped up the try bonus point before Sulita Waisega and Naisewa went over.
On Friday, Spain winger Clara Piquero scored a hat-trick as Las Leonas opened their account with a 13-try 83-0 defeat of debutants Madagascar at The Sevens Stadium.
Nadina Cisa (twice), captain Cristina Blanco, Zahia Perez, Amalia Argudo, Carmen Castellucci, Claudia Peña, Anne Fernandez de Corres, Maria Roman Mallen and Maria Calvo all crossed the whitewash in Dubai.
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I was pleasantly surprised and impressed by the Dutch and thought they were a bit unlucky not to come away with the win. A bit better game management at the end and they would have done. I expected it to be a straightforward win for Samoa. I confess to my ignorance of Dutch rugby.
Interesting point about time for a conversion. A similar thing happened to Holly Aitcheson against the BFs. The team celebrated so long over the tries that she was hurried into her conversion attempts. Celebrate by all means but get the ball straightaway to the kicker so she can prepare.
The question now is - am I going to stay up late for the Canada/France match tomorrow which I think could be the game of WXV1 this year. With Canada's recent form I cannot call it - home advantage might sway it.