Australia women celebrated not one but two titles at Stade Atlantique, as they added the Bordeaux SVNS World Championship series crown to the Valladolid title they won a week previously – and claimed the overall world title with a dominant victory over great rivals New Zealand in an all-action final.
Co-captain Isabella Nasser was full of praise for her team-mates: “We definitely had our bumps, ups and downs throughout this tournament and to show up like that against a really quality side like New Zealand, I couldn’t be more proud of the girls,” she told Rugbypass moments after the final whistle had blown at the end of the showpiece match.
“We have an amazing squad at home and the squad here, and the depth of our programme is unbelievable – we saved the best to last in regards to our performance.
“To be able to perform when it really matters at crunch time in the World Championship is really important to us. [New Zealand are] a quality side, amazing talent in their team. For us to go that one bit more and to be able to put more tries on, to be able to show up is really important to us and I couldn’t be happier.”
Canada claimed third with a victory over USA, while Spain’s eighth-place finish was enough to see them promoted to next season’s main HSBC SVNS Series, at Great Britain’s expense.
The eight sides on the main tour next season will be: Australia, New Zealand, Canada, USA, France, Fiji, Japan and Spain.
Final: Australia complete late title charge with dominant Bordeaux win
Heidi Dennis and Maddison Levi gave Australia a 14-7 lead at the end of an all-action, don’t blink first-half marked as much by the crunching tackles flying in as it was the trio of tries – Manaia Nuku finding an against-the-run-of-play answer for the Black Ferns Sevens.
New Zealand hit back through Katelyn Vahaakolo midway through the second period – but an injury hoodoo that has plagued them in Bordeaux struck again. With Stacey Waaka and Mahina Paul already ruled out, they lost Risi Pouri-Lane in the very next play, which ended with Faith Nathan scoring for Australia.
And Levi – in just her second match in Bordeaux – sealed the result with her second try of the final. Kelsey Teneti’s after-the-hooter touchdown to take the final score to 26-19 was just a consolation.
Player of the final Levi had returned to the Australia starting line-up for the first time since the second SVNS World Championship Series tournament in Valladolid as the standings leaders weathered a second-half storm against USA to win 21-7 and set up a winner-takes-all final against their great trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand.
Heidi Dennis, Madison Ashby and Isabella Nasser all scored in the first five minutes as Australia threatened to run away with the last-four match – but they were pegged back and USA had their chances after Kaylen Thomas cut the deficit before half-time.
For New Zealand, some late-season cracks were showing. Jorja Miller touched down under the posts with the clock in the red to break Canadian hearts in a thrilling semi-final in Bordeaux.
The Paris Olympic silver medallists were seconds from a historic second win over the Black Ferns Sevens in 37 attempts – leading 17-12 courtesy of a double from Charity Williams and a score for Savannah Bauder – when they gave up a penalty just outside their own 22.
Miller did the rest, and gave Manaia Nuku a simple conversion to win it 19-17.
Levi, who only returned to the pitch on the final day in Bordeaux after picking up an injury in Valladolid a week earlier, paid tribute to her team mates. “I got to play two games,” she told Rugbypass immediately after the final. “They played six and they’ve carried the whole way through, so it [the Player of the Final award] goes out to the whole team. They help me out there and they helped me get back so I wouldn’t be there without them.
“It’s been our most consistent season. We’ve been in every single final. So I think, win or lose in that game, we’re building as a programme, we’re creating depth, and for us to go out there and beat a pretty amazing New Zealand side – they’re always tough, they always fight. It’s pretty awesome to have the girls out there.”
Play-offs: Canada recover from Black Ferns loss to claim third
Kaylen Thomas’s hat-trick wasn’t quite enough for Olympic bronze medallists USA to claim third in Bordeaux as Canada – who had come so close to beating New Zealand earlier in the day – held on to win an end-to-end third-place play-offs 21-19 and climb to third in the HSBC SVNS World Championship standings.
Alycia Christiaens set a new season’s try-tally for a youthful France side as they finished their season in style with a 24-12 win over Fiji. The flier came off the bench to score two of their four tries, and take her total for this season’s SVNS Series to 35.
Relentless Japan claimed seventh place in Bordeaux with a 19-7 win over HSBC SVNS Series qualifiers Spain – Chiaki Saegusa, Hanako Utsumi, and Honoka Tsutsumi all crossing for the Sakura Sevens.
Argentina and Great Britain traded highlight-reel tries in the 14 minutes of the ninth-place play-off. In the end, the South American side prevailed 31-19.
Brazil signed off from the SVNS World Championship Series on a positive note with a 24-17 win over South Africa to claim 11th place.
France celebrate in Bordeaux as South Africa are crowned men’s World Champions
A pool phase defeat against the same opponents on the opening day had left Les Bleus at risk of missing out on the main SVNS Series next season – but they recovered to launch a charge that ended with a large crowd at Stade Atlantique celebrating as their homegrown heroes raised the trophy at the end of an intense final.
France’s victorious captain Paulin Riva said afterwards: “This championship is very difficult with a lot of big teams like South Africa. [But] we want to be here and we would like to be present.
“Obviously I’m one of the older players [on the squad]. We’re rebuilding the squad, we want to grow every year until the Olympic Games. I think this is the way – it’s been amazing.”
“We work hard every time, every tournament – and tonight it was an amazing game against a big New Zealand team.”
Spain slightly spoiled South Africa’s SVNS World Championship party by coming from behind to take the third-place play-off 40-14. But, after 37 wins and five tournament titles on the series, there’s no denying the Blitzboks are thoroughly deserving overall champions.
The drama in Bordeaux was not confined to the upper echelons, as USA’s remarkable run to fifth place was enough for them to deny Kenya and claim a spot on next season’s main SVNS Series, with Great Britain dropping from the main tour to SVNS 2.
The teams competing on the SVNS main stage next season will be: South Africa, New Zealand, Spain, Australia, Argentina, Fiji, France and Kenya.
Final: Les Bleus raise Bordeaux roof
France shook off an early stumble in Bordeaux to claim the title with an intense 14-5 win over New Zealand in the final in front of a passionate and partisan crowd at Stade Atlantique to claim their first sevens title since winning Olympic gold in Paris in 2024.
The party in the stands had already started when Olympic champion Rayan Rebbadj got on the end of a Paris old-firm move involving 2024 team-mates Paulin Riva and Antoine Zeghdar to take France into an early lead.
In a hard-fought final from first to last whistle, the All Blacks Sevens cut the host nations lead shortly before the break when Jayden Keelan skipped in and out, then out and in to score, with Celian Pouzelgues on the sidelines serving out a two-minute yellow card.
But player-of-the-final Pouzelgues would have the final word on his return. He had one try ruled out on TMO review for a knock on, but would not be denied a minute from time, as he darted through New Zealand’s flagging defence for the decisive try – and sent the already loud crowd wild.
The decibel-level had jumped several notches earlier, as France ended World Champions South Africa’s run with a 21-12 win in an equally intense semi-final.
Last year’s SVNS Rookie of the Year Enahemo Artaud opened the scoring in the first-half, only for Tristan Leyds to score the try that levelled the scores shortly before the break.
The second-half was all-attitude, all-France. Rayan Rebbadj and Antoine Zeghdar scored as Les Bleus broke away, meaning Donavan Don’s late score was only going to be a consolation.
“It’s amazing. It has been a long time since we had a tournament in France and we really feel the crowd, who is pushing for us,” Zeghdar told RugbyPass in Bordeaux.
“We want to do good things in the final and are going to have a good recovery, as we prepare as well as possible for the final.”
In the other semi-final,Akuila Rokolisoa crossed 1,000 points in international sevens, and Jayden Keelan ran in two tries as the All Blacks Sevens followed their Black Ferns Sevens counterparts into the finals in Bordeaux, beating Spain 24-12 in a physical and high-pace last-four meeting to set up a second match against Les Bleus in three days at Stade Atlantique.
Play-offs: Spain stun Blitzboks as USA claim historic fifth and Moneta marks 200
A Spanish comeback stunned World Champions South Africa in the third-place play-off to take some of the shine off their SVNS overall title on Sunday in Bordeaux.
Juan Ramos scored twice and Francisco Cosculluela, Josep Serres, Pol Pla and Angel Bozal all got on the scoreboard for Spain after Shilton van Wyk and Ricardo Duarttee had got the Blitzboks off to a lightning start to claim bronze with a 40-14 victory.
Lucas Lacamp dived over in the corner with the clock in the red at the end of the second half to seal an astonishing late fightback against Fiji – a side they have not beaten since 2017 – and claim fifth place in Bordeaux, and the eighth and final place in next season’s main HSBC SVNS Series.
Two first-half tries from Viwa Naduvalo looked good enough to have won it for Fiji – but tries in the 12th minute for David Still, in the 13th for Will Chevalier, and Lacamp’s 15th-minute touchdown completed a remarkable turnaround to win 17-14.
Australia shook off the disappointment of missing out on a chance to repeat their title success in Valladolid with a flourish of a finish in Bordeaux. Ben Dalton scored two of their five tries as they beat a never-say-die Great Britain 31-0.
Argentina’s Marcos Moneta started the day on 199 international sevens tries. Within four minutes of his side’s 47-19 win over Germany, he had 202, as he recorded his 10th career hat-trick.
Kenya did everything they could to ensure an eighth-place finish and main SVNS Series rugby next season with an athletic, off-loading 24-7 win over Uruguay to claim 11th and two league points. But their efforts were in vain, as USA claimed fifth in dramatic fashion to leapfrog the African side in the standings.
