Slightly belated congratulations to Australia’s women’s Sevens, who took the World Series title in Paris and will enter next month’s World Cup to see if they can remain on top.
The women were the picture of consistency during play in Paris, finishing no lower than third in any World Series leg to find themselves ahead of New Zealand by two points when all was said and done.
That is quite the accomplishment, as the Kiwi defending champions beat the Aussies 33 – 7 in the finale over the weekend.
The World Cup will follow in July in San Francisco, so the 2016 Olympic gold medalists and World Series champions have under a month to celebrate.
The string of successes has at least one player, Charlotte Caslick, looking down the road to the 2023 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
“We got so much experience out of that game… something that you don’t get from sitting on the bench, so that’ll be invaluable moving forward for our squad,” she said. “We can really pride ourselves on the consistency we’ve had this year, we lost a few big names throughout the season, had a coaching change but the girls all stuck strong.”
Australia’s men’s Sevens on the other hand, seemed content to hang on for fourth, beaten by the usual suspects: South Africa, Fiji and New Zealand.
Men’s Coach Tim Walsh copped to the finish being a disappointing one.
The men lost to Spain, Ireland and Argentina, to which Walsh admitted, “When you lose you get to pick up more. “It’ll be a very interesting six weeks to see what this team’s about and where improvements can be made (before the World Cup).
In what could be viewed as an ominous portent in the world of rugby, the 2018 World Cup will be held at AT & T Park, the home ground of Major League Baseball’s San Francisco Giants. Could the Wallabies and All Blacks soon be jetting to America to play a U.S. side?
The dates are from July 20 to July 22.
