China earn Core Status for 2018-19 Women’s Sevens Series

China blasted through the field in the women’s qualifier event at the Hong Kong Sevens to clinch core status for the 2018-19 HSBC Women’s Sevens Series on Friday. The impressive display culminated in a dominant 31-14 victory over South Africa in the final with only their opening pool match against Kazakhstan coming within a single score.

China return to the circuit after a three-year absence. They were relegated from core status following an 11th-place finish during the 2014-15 season.

Any hopes teams from the Americas had were dashed in the Quarter Finals. Both Brazil and Argentina were on the wrong side of 17-12 defeats, Brazil losing to Belgium and Argentina coming up short against Kenya. Brazil had earlier looked the better of the two after convincing wins over Hong Kong and Kazakhstan but China proved a class apart in pool competition.

The Americas were also represented by Mexico. They struggled with heavy defeats in all three matches against South Africa, Kenya, and Papua New Guinea. In fact they scored only once in the tournament, a late try from Margely Angulo in the match against Papua New Guinea.

 

 

POOL A
Kenya 17 – 5 Papua New Guinea
South Africa 31 – 0 Mexico
Kenya 40 – 0 Mexico
South Africa 26 – 17 Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea 27 – 5 Mexico
South Africa 12 – 24 Kenya

POOL B
China 14 – 7 Kazakhstan
Brazil 38 – 0 Hong Kong
China 19 – 7 Hong Kong
Brazil 22 – 10 Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan 12 – 17 Hong Kong
Brazil 5 – 31 China

POOL C
Belgium 12 – 0 Argentina
Wales 19 – 17 Poland
Belgium 19 – 0 Poland
Wales 47 – 5 Argentina
Argentina 21 – 5 Poland
Wales 5 – 12 Belgium

QUARTER FINALS
China 31 – 10 Papua New Guinea
Belgium 17 – 12 Brazil
Wales 0 – 26 South Africa
Kenya 17 – 12 Argentina

SEMI FINALS
China 22 – 5 Belgium
South Africa 12 – 7 Kenya

FINAL
China 31 – 14 South Africa