Women’s long winning run ends
The win streaks are over for the New Zealand women’s sevens team.
Having won 37 matches in a row, the sevens sisters lost to Spain in a shock pool play defeat, and then their streak of six straight tournament victories was also ended after a semifinal exit to Australia.
It ended a 448-day streak without a loss, dating back to February 22, 2014, when New Zealand lost in the Sao Paulo Sevens final to Australia.
Since then, New Zealand went on a historic streak of victories, defeating all comers with a style that simply blew teams off the field.
Even on their bad days they were finding ways to win, but on Friday in London that knack of finding a way to win against the odds finally failed them.
Spain were deserving winners in pool play and Saturday’s semifinal loss to Australia was a onesided affair as the injury hit Kiwi women struggled.
Lavinia Gould was withdrawn from the squad before the tournament and replaced by Kayla McAlister, but McAlister only arrived in London with about 24 hours until the opening match.
Key creative force Tyla NathanWong then went down on the opening day, testing the depth of New
New Zealand results:
New Zealand 24 (Portia Woodman, Kat Whata-Simpkins, Shiray Tane, Gayle Broughton tries; Kelly Brazier, WhataSimpkins con) USA 19. HT 12-14
New Zealand 5 (Portia Woodman try) Australia 24. HT: 0-19
New Zealand 24 (Portia Woodman 2, Kelly Brazier, Katarina Whata-Simpkins tries; Brazier 2 con) England 12. HT: 12-5
Zealand’s halfback and first-five positions.
Against Australia, the women from across the Ditch started with a bang. Chloe Dalton and Alicia Quirk crossed the line in the opening three minutes.
Charlotte Caslick added to the tally before halftime, giving Australia a 19-0 lead at the half.
Portia Woodman struck back late with a consolation try, her 49th of the world series season, but Ellia Green made sure of Australia’s 24-5 victory with the last touch of the ball.
New Zealand did recover to defeat the United States in the third-fourth playoff, Woodman registering her 50th try in five tournaments during the 24-19 comeback victory.
Earlier, New Zealand defeated hosts England 24-12 in the quarterfinals, with Woodman scoring a double, Kelly Brazier accounting for nine points and Katarina Whata-Simpkins also dotting down.