HSBC SVNS: Australia claim fifth Dubai title in a row as Levi breaks try record

Levi had not enjoyed the best of finals up to the moment she burst free from deep inside her own half to score the game-deciding try, to take her try-scoring streak to 25 matches.

Final: Levi racks up 15th as Australia edge thrilling final

Maddison Levi scored a record-breaking 15th try in a single tournament as Australia beat old rivals New Zealand 28-24 in a high-quality, end-to-end final that set the highest bar for the rest of the HSBC SVNS.

Australia – champions for the past four tournaments and out to prove a point after missing out on Olympic glory – got off to the quickest start. Faith Nathan sliced through the Black Ferns’ Sevens defence for her seventh try of the weekend in the first minute. Teagan Levi added their second before four minutes were on the clock.

New Zealand hit back in an all-action, breathless match – Jorja Miller held off player of the final Charlotte Caslick, a defensive rock from the first minute to last, to get the scoreboard moving, and Risi Pouri-Lane pulled the scores to within two.

The first-half scoring wasn’t done. Australia’s new captain Isabella Nasser burst clear for their third on the stroke of halftime. 

Theresa Setefano and Manaia Nuku both crossed to give New Zealand the lead early in the second period as they upped the physicality – but Levi stole clear with the ball against the run of play for the decisive score.

Nasser warned afterwards that Australia would only get better: “I’m sort of lost for words,” she said. “I’m proud of the girls. We have such a tight-knit group - the young ones really showed up today and I’m sure they will for the rest of the season. The best is yet to come.

“The Black Ferns are always such a hard team [to play]. They always show up and we have such a good rivalry.”

Bronze final: France claim hard-fought third

An inexperienced France squad renewed their strong relationship with the HSBC SVNS in Dubai, finishing third for the second year in a row, after cleverly surviving a spell in the second half with two players in the bin in a hard-fought, high-tension, high-penalty count match.

Les Bleues’ captain Anne-Cecile Ciofani scored two early tries before Grace Crompton got Britain on the board on the cusp of halftime. Hawa Tounkara extended France’s lead early in the second half. 

But they soon found themselves reduced to five, after Lauren Torley pulled the British back to within three. 

France, however, managed their numerical disadvantage to finish 15-12 winners – Ellie Boatman thought she had scored the comeback try with less than a minute on the clock, but had tiptoed into touch as the clock ticked down.

Semi-finals: Levi and Hirini at the double

Levi scored her 13th and 14th tries of the weekend – to draw level with Portia Woodman-Wickliffe’s all-time individual tournament try-scoring record – as Australia eased past Great Britain 35-7.

Sister Teagan, Faith Nathan, and Charlotte Caslick also scored to take Australia safely through to another final, as they look for their fifth title in Dubai in a row.

The Black Ferns Sevens then set up a 26th final against their arch-rivals with a 28-14 win over a youthful France side. Sarah Hirini scored twice for the Olympic gold medal-winners.

Quarter finals: Favourites cruise through

Ellie Boatman added another two tries to her Dubai account in the opening match of the day, as Great Britain marched into the last four with a 26-0 win over Japan.

Australia avenged their defeat in a scintillating Olympic Games semi-final in the summer with a comprehensive 39-0 win over Paris silver-medalists Canada. Levi – who else? – scored her third hat-trick in four matches in the tournament, and Faith Nathan added another two to her personal account.

Olympic champions New Zealand brushed off Ireland’s challenge, Kelsey Teneti opening the scoring the first of their five tries with barely 20 seconds on the clock. Jorja Miller scored a double as the Black Ferns Sevens eased to a 33-12 win.

Olympic bronze medalists USA lost to France for the second time in Dubai in under 24 hours. France’s first win – their only one on day one – saw them scrape into the quarter-final. 

This time Captain Anne-Cecile Ciofani and teenager Perrine Fagnen – in her debut competition – both scored twice as Les Bleues won 38-12.

Play-offs: High promise for USA

With HSBC SVNS Series points on the line, a fledgling USA squad – featuring six debutantes – wound-up their two days at Dubai with a potentially significant 17-7 win over Ireland.

Japan twice came from behind to beat Canada 24-22 and claim seventh place; while a Thalia Costa hat-trick ensured Brazil finished ninth, as they beat China 24-17. And Spain beat Fiji 22-5 to record their second win in Dubai and claim 11th place.