Paris victory not enough for elusive series crown
The Black Ferns may have thrashed Australia 33-7 in the final of the Paris Sevens yesterday but it was the opposition who celebrated the most at fulltime.
Australia secured the overall World Rugby Sevens Series just by qualifying for the final.
Australia finished the series with 92 points, ahead of New Zealand on 90, who were left to rue a poor performance in the opening tournament in Dubai where they failed to reach the semifinals.
But even though they were unable to win the series, the Black Ferns were still motivated to finish on a high. And they were far too good for Australia in Paris, Portia Woodman and Michaela Blyde crossing the tryline twice each and Sarah Goss also scoring once.
Woodman’s double saw her finish the series with 43 tries. Her 215 points tally was more than any other player.
‘‘I’m so happy with how we’ve gone in this tournament,’’ Goss said. ‘‘It was amazing, especially heading in to the World Cup to keep building momentum.
‘‘We were a little bit disappointed that we couldn’t win the series but I’m really proud of how the girls have finished off the series. We’ll be going home and working on our preparations for the World Cup in San Francisco because it’s going to be a big one.’’
The men’s tournament was won by South Africa, whose 24-14 win over England saw them take the overall series title after previous leaders Fiji crashed out in the quarterfinals.
New Zealand finished third. After losing their semifinal 24-12 to South Africa they went on to beat Canada 38-5 in the bronze medal match.
The World Cup takes place on July 20.