Australia’s women’s sevens team makes history with world series win
Jim Tucker|
The Courier-Mail
NEXT stop Rio.
Australia’s classy band of history-makers became women’s world sevens champions in the Clermont Sevens in France over the weekend.
The Pearls only needed to finish sixth to make sure of the HSBC World Sevens Series crown for the first time but did it in style by blazing into the top four with a near-perfect 35-0 demolition of Spain in the quarter-finals.
They then went on to beat deposed champions New Zealand 14-5 in the semi-finals before losing the decider 29-19 to Canada.
Emilee Cherry was a class above in the vital Spain clash.
She sliced over for the first try and scored the 80th of her sevens career in the second half in a flash of speed and three right foot sidesteps without losing pace over 30m.
The smiles all round from girls in gold and green signalled a major step towards their ultimate goal of winning Olympic gold in Rio in August when the Kiwis will again be the major stumbling block.
Perry, halfback Charlotte Caslick, Alicia Quirk, Chloe Dalton — five-from-five converting the tries with drop kicks — and pacy super-sub Evania Pelite were all eye-catching performers.
The win gave the Aussies an unassailable lead at the top of the standings after they had stormed through pool play with victories over Fiji (34-0), Ireland (40-5) and France (19-12).
Coach Tim Walsh was delighted.
“To come out on top in the World Series is an extraordinary effort and we have so much to be proud of this season,” he said.
“Defence wins championships and up to that last game we had been fantastic all year.”
That defence went out the window in the final of the French leg though, as Canada piled on 26 points in a first-half demolition that saw Australia go to the break trailing by 19.
A second-half revival saw that gap narrowed to seven at one stage, however a late penalty to the Canadians ensured they ran out 10-point winners.
“It’s a bit bittersweet I guess, as we just didn’t perform in that Cup Final and Canada ran out worthy winners,” Walsh said.
“If you don’t make tackles you don’t win games and it certainly wasn’t our greatest defensive effort.
“It wasn’t a case of us not being up for it - every time we pull on the jersey we are up for it - but it wasn’t our game this time around.”
Australia won the first four events of the six-legged series, before finishing third in Canada last month and runners-up on the weekend.
They finish 14 points ahead of New Zealand, while Canada and England were each six points further back on 74.
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