Fiji and Australia crowned champions, Ireland claim bronze: Day 3 at the Rugby World Cup Sevens
We’ve partnered with TritonLake, proud title sponsors of the Ireland Sevens teams, to bring you daily coverage from Cape Town.
THE RUGBY WORLD Cup Sevens was held in Cape Town this weekend, where a combined total of 40 teams took part in the men’s and women’s competitions.
Thanks to TritonLake – the proud title sponsor of the Ireland Sevens teams – The42 has been keeping you up-to-date with a round-up of the action each day.
Here’s what happened on Sunday…
Today’s Results
Men’s Tournament – Championship Semi-Finals
- New Zealand 17 Ireland 10
- Fiji 38 Australia 14
Championship Final
- Fiji 29 New Zealand 12
Championship Bronze Final
- Ireland 19 Australia 14
Championship Cup 5/8 Place Semi-Finals
- Argentina 26 South Africa 19
- France 24 Samoa 17
Championship 5/6 Place Final
- Argentina 10 France 7
Championship 7/8 Place Final
- South Africa 35 Samoa 5
Challenge Final
- England 28 Uruguay 5
Challenge 11/12 Place Final
- USA 26 Kenya 19
Challenge 13/14 Place Final
- Canada 12 Chile 10
Challenge 15/16 Place Final
- Wales 24 Scotland 21
Bowl Final
- Uganda 19 Germany 12
Bowl 19/20 Place Final
- Hong Kong 19 Tonga 0
Bowl 21/22 Place Final
- Korea 12 Portugal 10
Bowl 23/24 Place Final
- Zimbabwe 31 Jamaica 17
Women’s Tournament – Championship Semi-Finals
- New Zealand 38 France 7
- Australia 17 USA 7
Championship Final
- Australia 24 New Zealand 22
Championship Bronze Final
- France 29 USA 7
Championship Cup 5/8 Place Semi-Finals
- Canada 22 England 7
- Fiji 24 Ireland 0
Championship 5/6 Place Final
- Fiji 53 Canada 0
Championship 7/8 Place Final
- Ireland 26 England 10
Challenge Final
- Japan 17 Poland 12
Challenge 11/12 Place Final
- Brazil 19 Spain 17
Challenge 13/14 Place Final
- China 21 South Africa 19
Challenge 15/16 Place Final
- Madagascar 19 Colombia 12
The Big Story
Following New Zealand’s double success in San Francisco four years ago, the 2022 World Cup finals was the turn of other nations to take up the mantle. Although the defending champions made it through to the men’s and women’s showpiece deciders, they came unstuck at the hands of Fiji and Australia respectively.
Backing up their outstanding semi-final performances against the Australian men, Joseva Talacolo, Kaminieli Rasaku, Elia Canakaivata and Filipe Sauturaga all raced over to give the Fijians a 24-5 interval cushion.
The All Blacks did their utmost to forge a second period fightback – Akuila Rokolisoa dotted down straight after the restart – but Pilipo Bukayaro’s five-pointer brought their quest for a third consecutive World Cup title to an end.
There was little sign that the New Zealand women were about to relinquish their crown, with knockout victories over Colombia, Ireland and France being achieved with minimal fuss. Australia were every bit as impressive en route to the final, however, and built on some stellar displays on the sevens circuit to come away with the top prize.
The elusive Faith Nathan touched down to supplement three tries from Maddison Levi and while New Zealand reduced the gap from 14 points to two in a gripping finale, Tenika Willison’s wayward conversion brought their reign as world champions to a close.
How did Ireland do?
At the end of another rollercoaster day, the Ireland men secured third place at the World Cup with a superb 19-14 bronze final win over Australia.
Still on a high following their Championship quarter-final success at the expense of host nation South Africa on Saturday night, James Topping’s charges found themselves trailing 10-0 in the early stages of their last-four meeting with New Zealand.
While Ireland stormed back into contention with five-pointers from Jack Kelly and Andrew Smith, they eventually succumbed to a heartbreaking 17-10 defeat. Yet this made them determined to end the tournament on a positive note.
With Sean Cribbin, Terry Kennedy and Harry McNulty all crossing over in ruthless fashion, they managed to hold off a stern challenge from Australia and ensure that third spot was theirs to keep.
The Irish women started out the day with a comprehensive 24-0 reversal to Fiji in a 5/8 Place encounter and endured a difficult start to their seventh place final against England.
Megan Jones got their cross-channel rivals up and running, but thanks to tries from Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe (two), Stacey Flood and Megan Burns, Aiden McNulty’s side claimed a 26-10 victory to finish the World Cup on a memorable high.
Try of the Day
While there were outstanding individual scores over the course of the day, Jeremaia Matana’s try for Fiji in their Championship semi-final win against Australia caught the eye as a supreme team effort.
Starting out deep inside their own half, the Fijians moved the ball swiftly through the hands and five passes later Matana was in the right place to dive down under the posts in clinical fashion.
Stand-out Player
It doesn’t get much better than grabbing a hat-trick of tries in a World Cup final and Maddison Levi achieved this magnificent feat for the Australian women in their gripping triumph over New Zealand.
Her only previous try in this tournament was during Friday’s 48-0 rout against Madagascar, but when the pressure was at it highest in the Championship decider, the Gold Coast native delivered.
Featuring alongside her sister Teagan – who started the game on the bench – Levi bagged scores in the fourth, seventh and tenth minutes to ensure the Wallabies added to their recent successes in the World Series and the Commonwealth Games.