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The four most memorable events in sevens history in Australia
By Adam Julian
The World Sevens Series will be held in Perth for just the second time.
The third leg of the SVNS series was dramatic in 2023/24 with Ireland winning their first female cup title stunning hosts Australia 19-14 in the final.
Ireland led 14-7 at the break after tries from Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe and Lucy Mulhall, before Australia fought back to level soon after the restart. Eve Higgins then dotted down a decisive 13th-minute try as Ireland held on to clinch gold.
Argentina were male cup champions after a resounding 31-5 victory over Australia. Marcos Moneta opened the scoring. From there the Pumas took total control as veteran German Schultz showed his strength to burst through the defense. Matteo Graziano added two further tries with Moneta applying the icing.
The first incarnation of an Australian Sevens tournament was at Concord Oval in Sydney as part of Australia’s Bicentennial celebrations in 1986.
An international invitational tournament was won by New Zealand who defeated Australia 32-0 in the final after earlier wins against Tonga (22-0), USA (28-0), Fiji (16-0) and Argentina (24-4).
The New Zealand team featured All Blacks Frano Botica, Mike Clamp, Terry Wright, Sir Wayne Smith (Captain), David Kirk, Sir Wayne Shelford, Mark Brooke-Cowden and Zinzan Brooke.
The invitational tournament was played four times with New Zealand winning three titles.
Since the inception of the World Series format, the Aussie Sevens has been held in Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Gold Coast and Western Australia.
With six cup triumphs, Fiji is the most successful team. The Black Ferns Sevens have won three titles since the inception of the women’s tournament in 2017.
Fijian Kings
The inaugural Brisbane 7s was the seventh tournament in the 1999-2000 World Series and Fiji had a stacked side with big names like Jope Tuikabe, Seta Tawake, Fillimoni Delasau, Fero Lasagavibau and the king Waisale Serevi.
It was little surprise Fiji breezed through to the final thrashing Cook Islands (40-7), Uruguay (49-0), Argentina (38-14), France (47-7) and South Africa (45-7).
Hosts Australia proved far tougher in the final leading 21-19 on full-time when Servei handled for the last time. He dummied to Delasau, jump-steeped into a hole, and outpaced Richard Graham to the line.
Serevi would mastermind another Fijian triumph in 2007 when as coach he started himself in the final against Samoa before bringing on prodigy William Ryder who scored a key second-half try.
In 2013 Fiji won the Australian tournament on the Gold Coast in Jerry Tuwai’s debut. Fiji beat Scotland (40-7), Portugal (38-0), Australia (35-12), Wales (31-10), England (48-7) and Samoa 31-24 en route to the title.
Fiji led the final 26-5 at halftime with tries to Setefano Cakau (2), Apisai Domolaili and Semi Kunatani. Samoa almost pulled off a miracle comeback in the second-half with tries to Lolo Lui, Siaosi Asofolau and Tila Mealoi.
2009 All-African Final
South Africa successfully defended their Adelaide Sevens title with a convincing 26-7 win over Kenya in the 2009 Cup final.
South Africa had lost to Keyna 15-14 in their pool game but looked likely from the outset of the decider when Robert Ebersohn scored in the opening 25 seconds after evading two tacklers.
Kenya equalised with 3:45 left in the opening half through Humphrey Kayange, finishing off a break from Innocent Simiyu.
South Africa regained the advantage with two minutes left in the half with Vuyo Zangqa set up by Ryno Benjamin.
Keyna struggled to break down the committed Blizboxs defence and Renfred Dazel sealed victory with a chip-and-chase try which he converted in the final seconds.
In 2008 South Africa won the title after halting New Zealand’s winning streak of 47 consecutive wins with a 15-7 success in the Cup final. All Blacks Sevens coach Sir Gordon Tiejtens conceded.
“We battled a bit; perhaps some of the workload has been too much, and we started to share a bit on day one and day two, but we didn’t play particularly well. Tonga really pushed us and against Fiji, we came back at the death to win that.”
Fabian Juries was a hero for South Africa scoring two tries. He scored 179 in total for South Africa and now coaches the Kazakhstan Women’s Sevens Team. Double Rugby World Cup winner Victor Vito scored New Zealand’s solitary try.
2016: Ioane Brothers Catch Fire
Having never led in the final, Rieko Ioane completed his hat-trick with the last play of the match to give New Zealand a 27-24 victory over Australia in front of a sold-out Allianz Stadium crowd of 37,095.
Ioane was named player of the tournament for his seven tries. Still, his older brother Akira was named Man of the Match in the final after a damaging performance, which included setting up Rieko’s first try with a trademark burst down the sideline.
Australia started brightly with 18-year-old speedster Henry Hutchison opening the scoring after a Cameron Clark bust. But the All Black Sevens showed their power with a 90m counter-attacking try where Akira Ioane gave Hutchison a vicious fend before handing off to brother Rieko.
Sonny Bill Williams started the final but did his side no favours with a high tackle, which he was yellow-carded for. Hutchison capitalised on the extra space as Australia led at halftime, an advantage they maintained in the second half until Henry Speight was caught high in contact when Australia had the ball and a two-point lead with five seconds left. The ensuing scrum from the maul gave New Zealand a chance to steal the match.
In the semi-finals, New Zealand beat Fiji 14-12, with Akira scoring one of the tries of the tournament.
Sir Gordon Tietjens coached New Zealand for the last time in 2016. In his World Rugby Hall of Fame career, he led New Zealand to a dozen World Series titles and 80 tournament victories in 183 events. The Ioane brothers were among 56 All Blacks to pass through Tietjens’ renowned program.
2018: Black Ferns Sevens Whitewashed
Portia Woodman and Michaela Blyde had combined for 21 tries in their first five games but would be extended no charity by a ruthless Australia who held the Black Ferns Sevens scoreless for the only time in a Cup final.
Charlotte Caslick scored after the halftime hooter to give Australia a 10-0 lead and, to add injury to insult, New Zealand lost Tyla Nathan-Wong to the bin for a deliberate knock-down in the lead up to the try.
Australia wasted little time cashing in on the numerical advantage in the second half, as Ellia Green scored from long range to open up a daunting 17-0 lead.
New Zealand was shell-shocked and further tries to Evania Pelite, now with the Gold Coast Titans in WNRL and police constable Emma Sykes completed the rout.
New Zealand captain Sarah Hirini conceded afterward. “I just feel a little bit sorry for the girls, we didn’t expect to lose by that much and I know we’re going to be stronger for it in the next couple of months.”
The Black Ferns Sevens would exact revenge on the competition by winning the next three Australian Sevens titles in a row. In that span, they won 18 successive matches. A 34-10 thumping of Australia in the 2019 Cup final was a highlight. Michaela Blyde (3) and Stacey Waaka (2) scored tries.
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