NZ stunned in quarterfinal

New Zealand’s women’s sevens team suffered a shock early exit at the Japan Women’s Sevens.

They lost 26-19 to the United States to crash out at the quarterfinal stage in Kitakyushu yesterday.

It was the first time New Zealand have not been the winner of an international women’s sevens tournament since January 2018, while the last time they didn’t make a final was when they lost to the United States in the quarterfinals in Dubai in December 2017.

Sunday’s loss came after their 38-game unbeaten run ended in equally surprising fashion against France on Saturday.

The quarterfinal started with Naya Tapper putting the United States ahead three minutes in when she picked up the ball from a ruck, went left around it, and outpaced the New Zealand defence.

Dhys Faleafaga answered for New Zealand when finishing a good move down the right side with two minutes to play in the half.

Kris Thomas was too quick for the New Zealand defence when she broke down the right in a superb solo try to put the United States up 12-5 at halftime.

New Zealand were in major trouble when Alev Kelter showed their defence a clean pair of heels down the right wing to go in untouched to score under the posts. The conversion was made, putting them up by 14 with five minutes to play.

The Kiwis hit back when Niall Williams went over one minute later after a powerful run by Shakira Baker down the left edge.

Two minutes later they won the ball through good counter rucking 40m from the United States’ line, with the ball flicked out to Williams in run in without a defender getting near her to level the scores.

But Kirsti Kirshe won the game for the United States in the final minute, again exposing New Zealand’s left-side defence to race 50m to score. The sideline conversion was made.

New Zealand were poor in pool play on Saturday, losing their 38-game unbeaten run when France beat them 29-7 in a fivetries-to-one drubbing. They also drew 17-17 with Russia, while they beat Japan 43-0.