Unfortunately, host nation France ended a 21-year drought without a local Cup title by defeating the All Blacks Sevens 14-5 in a tense Bordeaux final. The boisterous home crowd acted as the eighth man, with rugby riding high in the famed wine-growing region in the southwest. France's 15s side was recently crowned European champions.
The All Blacks Sevens made more than twice as many tackles as France. That workload first took its toll after three minutes when Rayan Rebbadj, in his 26th SVNS tournament, slipped through.
Jayden Keelan, covering both wings and playmaker duties, enjoyed an outstanding tournament. He scored two tries from past halfway in the 24-12 semi-final win over Spain, where he played a season. A chip and chase down the right wing was New Zealand’s first attack in the decider. He then appeared on the left wing with a stop-start step that unlocked the Blue Wall.
Down 7-5 at half-time, the All Blacks Sevens had every chance of repeating their pool play win against France. Instead, the locals anchored inside All Blacks Sevens territory, helped by a lopsided penalty count. Grégoire Arfeuil had a try ruled out.
France continued to hammer away, and when Akuila Rokolisoa was yellow-carded, rather pedantically, for wasting time by kicking the ball away, the All Blacks Sevens were down to six players with two minutes remaining.
Eventually, Célian Pouzelgues, who had been yellow-carded for a high tackle earlier, crossed from close range with the All Blacks Sevens defence totally spent. France had beaten New Zealand only 11 times in 83 SVNS meetings before the final.
The All Blacks Sevens have often been on the wrong side of tight tussles this season, but in pool play they edged France 26-21, rallying from 21-12 down. With 90 seconds left, Rob Rush from the bench threw an extravagant dummy to slip through. Then Solo, as he did in the 2023 Toulouse Sevens final against Argentina, collected a bouncing pass from influential veteran Ngarohi McGarvey-Black and sprinted 40m down the right wing for the winner. The All Blacks Sevens led most of the way in their 86th win in 108 SVNS matches against Argentina.
The overall men’s title was won by South Africa, who beat Fiji 14-12 in their quarter-final. South Africa lost to France 21-12 in the semi-finals.
After four previous defeats, Australia won the French Sevens for the first time to claim the SVNS World title for the fifth time, beating the wounded Black Ferns Sevens 26-19 in the final. With Stacey Waaka and Mahina Paul already injured before the decider, things worsened for the Black Ferns Sevens when captain Risi Pouri-Lane hobbled off the field in the second half.
Australia never trailed, forcing the Black Ferns Sevens to make 19 of the first 20 tackles. Heidi Dennis struck in the fourth minute with a right-footed step and sudden acceleration away from a grasping Manaia Nuku. Dennis has scored 28 of her 36 SVNS tries this season.
Nuku replied immediately with a step, fend and sprint from halfway. Maddison Levi was the player of the final. Nursing an injury, she was used sparingly, scoring her first try of the tournament in the final to make it 14-7 at half-time.
Jorja Miller was well marked throughout, but a pass that deflected off an Australian defender inside the 22 helped New Zealand regain possession. From a scrum overlap, Vaha'akolo crossed out wide.
From the restart, Kahli Henwood pinballed out of two tackles and set Faith Nathan free for an 80m runaway. Nathan passed 150 SVNS tries this weekend.
Down 19-12, Vaha'akolo surged from her own 22 to the Australian 22 but was caught in retreat by Maddison Levi. Unfortunately, Vaha'akolo spilt the ball, allowing Australia to outflank the Black Ferns Sevens. Levi fended off Teneti in a one-on-one duel on the edge, sprinting 65m for the clincher. Levi scored 65 of her 270 career tries this season.
Teneti, among the top five scorers in the series, had the last say with a determined burst.
The Black Ferns Sevens needed the last play to foil Canada 19-17 in the semi-final. Canada led 17-12 in the last minute, shutting up shop and making an error just outside the 22. Pouri-Lane tapped, drifted across the Canadian 22, straightened, then slipped inside to Jorja Miller, who, with her predatory instincts, burst past three defenders and scored under the sticks for a dramatic success.
“The biggest thing is just to stay calm. We know how to play rugby; we’ve been in moments like this before, but the biggest thing was just to be calm. We’ve still got time. If there’s time on that clock, 30 seconds, seven seconds, whatever it is, all we need is the ball,” Pouri-Lane said afterwards.
Earlier, the Black Ferns Sevens struggled to contain the brilliant Charity Williams, who has 135 tries in her SVNS career. She scored two stunners from past halfway as the Olympic silver medallists threatened a major boilover. However, the Black Ferns Sevens have won 36 of their last 37 matches against Canada. Miller sparked a resurgence with a gut-busting 60m run, popping a pass to Pouri-Lane for an easy 10m finish as she was tipped over just short of the line. Vaha'akolo scored from a scrum to put New Zealand 12-10 ahead, but when Savannah Bauder got away 40m, the Black Ferns Sevens were suddenly behind again.
Japan achieved their highest score against the Black Ferns Sevens in the quarter-finals, with four tries, three of which were scored when it was 35-5. Miller, with two 70m efforts, stood out. In pool play, the Black Ferns Sevens achieved routine wins against Germany for the second time in two meetings, South Africa for the 10th time in 10 matches, and improved their record against France to 42-4.
The Black Ferns Sevens have won 62 of the 96 tournaments they have contested since 2000 and 543 of 597 matches across all competitions. Since 2012, in the SVNS era, they have won 48 of their 61 Cup final appearances. Twenty-seven of those wins have come in 38 matches against Australia. The Black Ferns Sevens have won 393 of 435 SVNS matches.
All Blacks Sevens Scoring
All Blacks Sevens: 26 (McGarvey-Black 2, R Rush, Solo tries; McGarvey-Black 2, Rokolisoa cons) France: 21 (Antoine Zeghdar, Célian Pouzelgues, Grégoire Arfeuil tries; Rayan Rebbadj, Paulin Riva cons)
All Blacks Sevens: 33 (Vai, McGarvey-Black, Molia, Solo, Morgan tries; Rokolisoa, McGarvey-Black, Keelan cons) Germany: 7 (Philip Gleitze try; Felix Hufnagel con)
All Blacks Sevens: 24 (Solo, Molia, Rokolisoa tries; Rokolisoa 2 cons) Argentina: 21 (Marcos Moneta, Martiniano Arrieta, Penalty Try; Santiago Vera Feld, Pedro De Haro cons)
All Blacks Sevens: 24 (Solo, B Rush 2, Kitiona Vai tries; Rokolisoa 2 cons) Great Britain: 5 (Ben Salmon try)
All Blacks Sevens: 24 (Keelan 2, Vai, Rokolisoa tries; Rokolisoa 2 cons) Spain: 12 (Francisco Cosculluela, Angel Bozal tries; Juan Ramos con)
All Blacks Sevens: 5 (Keelan try) France: 14 (Rayan Rebbadj, Célian Pouzelgues tries; Rebbadj, Enahemo Artaud cons)
Black Ferns Sevens Scoring
Black Ferns Sevens: 49 (Waaka 2, Nuku, Felix-Hotham 2, Miller, Teneti, Vaha'akolo, Penalty Try; Nuku con) Argentina: 5 (Sofia Gonzalez try)
Black Ferns Sevens: 42 (Nuku 2, Miller, Paul 2, Vaha'akolo tries; Nuku 4, Pouri-Lane 2 cons) South Africa: 0
Black Ferns Sevens: 38 (Vaha'akolo, Pouri-Lane, Mahina Paul, Nuku, Miller tries; Nuku 4 cons) France: 7 (Marie-Aurélie Castel try; Alycia Christiaens con)
Black Ferns Sevens: 35 (Felix-Hotham, Miller, Nuku, Paul tries; Nuku 4, Davis cons) Japan: 22 (Michiyo Suda, Shiori Okyudo, Mayu Yoshino, Marin Kajiki tries; Suda con)
Black Ferns Sevens: 19 (Pouri-Lane, Vaha'akolo, Miller tries; Pouri-Lane, Nuku cons) Canada: 17 (Charity Williams 2, Savannah Bauder tries; Asia Hogan-Rochester con)
Black Ferns Sevens: 19 (Nuku, Vaha'akolo, Teneti tries; Nuku 2 cons) Australia: 26 (Heidi Dennis, Faith Nathan, Maddison Levi 2 tries; Dennis, Teagan Levi, Kahli Henwood cons)
