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New Zealand claimed their fourth consecutive Women’s Cup victory on Sunday to take a commanding lead in the World Sevens Series standings. As in Hamilton, it was Canada who they defeated in the Final. The USA slumped to an 8th-place finish, with Brazil in 12th spot once again.
Canada defeated the Eagles in the final round of pool play to start their day. It was followed up with an impressive 34-0 win over Australia, Keyara Wardley scoring her first series double. New Zealand continue to hold an edge, however, with the black jerseys running rampant in the second half of the Cup Final.
The USA fell into the seeding round with their loss to the Canadians, and faced off with Russia in the 7th place playoff. Cheta Emba scored twice to give the Eagles a 10-7 lead at the break but Daria Noritsina’s second and third tries of the match sealed the win for the Russians.
Las Yaras are now all-but-certain to lose core status after another winless tournament. They were shut out by Fiji in their final pool fixture and decidedly second best against Ireland in the 12th place decider.
With five of eight tournaments now complete New Zealand have stretched their lead to 16 points at the top of the table. Canada are now tied with Australia on points, only narrowly behind on scoring differential. The USA drop to 5th with Brazil now behind Japan despite the latter playing only three stops.
The Series now splits with the women on break until the Hong Kong Sevens kicks off on April 3.
POOL RESULTS
POOL A
England 33 – 0 Russia
New Zealand 28 – 0 Japan
England 26 – 5 Japan
New Zealand 22 – 12 Russia
Russia 14 – 12 Japan
New Zealand 26 – 12 England
POOL B
USA 14 – 19 Fiji
Canada 33 – 10 Brazil
USA 34 – 19 Brazil
Canada 20 – 14 Fiji
Fiji 31 – 0 Brazil
Canada 21 – 7 USA
POOL C
Australia 33 – 0 Spain
France 40 – 14 Ireland
Australia 34 – 0 Ireland
France 42 – 7 Spain
Spain 24 – 5 Ireland
France 10 – 14 Australia
PLAYOFF RESULTS
11th PLACE FINAL
Brazil 7 – 20 IRELAND
9th PLACE FINAL
Spain 17 – 33 Japan
7th PLACE FINAL
USA 15 – 19 Russia
5th PLACE FINAL
England 5 – 17 Fiji
CUP SEMI FINALS
Canada 34 – 0 Australia
New Zealand 24 – 7 France
BRONZE FINAL
Australia 12 – 10 France
CUP FINAL
Canada 7 – 33 New Zealand
