Dubai Sevens: New Zealand Women steal victory with last gasp try

IRB Women’s Sevens World Series holders New Zealand began their overall title defence on a perfect note, beating their arch-rivals and defending Dubai-leg champions Australia 19-17 in a gripping rematch of the 2013 final at the Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens at The Sevens on Friday.

Trailing 17-0 at the break, New Zealand produced a stirring fight-back in the second period, and a last ditch try while the ball was still in play after full time saw them take a remarkable two-point victory, and exorcise the ghosts of their 27-35 loss to their trans-Tasman rivals in the final here last season.

Speaking after their memorable triumph, New Zealand skipper Sarah Goss said: “Tyla (Nathan-Wong) set it up for me, for the final game-winning try. Winning against Australia is always extra-sweet. I suppose after last year it’s a bit of redemption, but this year is all about it being an Olympic qualifying year, and we’re excited to start off well.”

Australia captain Sharni Williams said: “It was tough – we played some really good footy this weekend, and had a pretty tough pre-season. We came here all guns blazing – it just got taken away from us right towards the end, and that’s what happened to them last year – so that’s how it is in sport. The beauty of this New Zealand team is that they play year in, year out. And because they play in so many finals, they know how to play finals really well. They had their heads screwed on, right to the final whistle.”

There was some consolation for the Australians later, though, as 22-year-old Alicia Quirk from Wagga Wagga was named the player of the tournament for her outstanding play over both days of the tournament.

Canada beat France 10-5 in extra time in the play-off, to finish third. With the top four teams in the overall standings qualifying for the 2016 Rio Olympics, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and surprise package France made themselves the early contenders for Summer Games berths.

England, who had suffered a surprise defeat 5-7 by France earlier in the day, emerged with some silverware later when they won the Plate title, beating Fiji 19-12 in extra time in the final.
Speaking about their outing, Natasha Hunt, who scored the game-winning try after five minutes of overtime, said: “We're really chuffed to finish with a win out there; it's been a really tough couple of days for us, like we're still building as a squad. We made it hard for ourselves but came away with a win, so it's happy faces at the moment. Obviously we need a top-four finish by the end of the year, because that'll qualify us for the Olympics so that we can carry on rolling our programme.”

Brazil won the Bowl title, beating South Africa 17-7 in the final. Luiza Campos starred with two tries for Brazil.

Thrilled with their win, Brazil Coach Chris Neill said: “The achievement is great for us because we're an invitational team. As an invitational team, we really should have come 12th - so to have come ninth is a major achievement for the girls. Overall, yesterday, we were a disappointed with their performance so there have been mixed feelings, but it's great for them to finish on a high as they have another important tournament coming up next year. Dubai is amazing - you can get a little bit star-struck being here, especially some of the new girls that have never even left Brazil before – so we’re delighted to have won.”