The Australia women’s rugby 7s team beat France in the Grand Final to clinch the title. The Aussie men finished seventh.
by Staff Report
The Australian women’s rugby 7s team will head to the Paris 2024 Olympics as the inaugural SVNS series champions after beating France in the final of the Madrid Sevens 2024 on Sunday.
The Madrid Sevens 2024 Grand Final was the eighth and final tournament of the World Rugby Sevens Series 2023-24 season. A new format was introduced from this season and saw the top eight teams from the regular season compete in the new ‘winner takes all’ Grand Final in Madrid for the SVNS series title.
After going toe-to-toe throughout the league stage, the Aussie women narrowly lost out on the league title, awarded to the table toppers after the seven-tournament season proper, to New Zealand after losing to the Black Ferns in the Singapore Sevens final last month.
However, at the Madrid finale, the Tim Walsh-coached Australian women’s rugby sevens team was head and shoulders above the competition.
Led by returning captain and superstar Charlotte Caslick, who missed the Singapore leg with injury, the Aussies cruised past the group stage, topping Pool B after beating Ireland (33-14), Fiji (31-12) and France (28-14) at the Civitas Metropolitano.
Faced against League champions New Zealand in the semi-finals, the Aussies mounted an astonishing comeback to turn a 7-19 scoreline into a 21-19 win in the final minutes of the thrilling contest.
The final was a more straightforward affair as a Maddison Levi hat-trick led the Australian women to a comfortable 26-7 win over France. This was the Australian team’s second final victory over France this season, having bested them in Cape Town as well.
The Madrid Grand Final was the Australian women’s rugby 7s team’s last competitive outing before the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The Australian men’s team, meanwhile, finished seventh in the Madrid Sevens 2024.
Having made the cut for the inaugural SVNS Grand Final after finishing fourth in the regular season, the Aussie men failed to make the semi-finals after managing to win just one of their matches in Pool A.
They beat Great Britain 19-14 but lost to League winners Argentina (14-5) and eventual champions France (38-5) in the group stage.
After losing to South Africa 24-21 in the fifth-place semis, the Nick Malouf-led side blanked Great Britain 21-0 in the seventh-place playoffs.
