Australia in pole position after day one in Clermont-Ferrand – they will claim their first series title if they win their quarter-final on day two of the HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series in Clermont-Ferrand on Sunday.
Heather Fisher on the charge (Photo: World Rugby)
Along with England and New Zealand, Australia went unbeaten in Stade Gabriel-Montpied on Saturday after a thrilling day of rugby that saw sunshine and storms in equal measure in the Auvergne region of France.
Australia need to beat Spain on Sunday to be mathematically sure of winning the 2015-16 series title, while closest rival New Zealand will play hosts France in the last eight. England play USA in the first quarter-final of the day while Canada will play a Fiji side who were only beaten once on day one in Clermont-Ferrand.
With a passionate crowd in attendance in Clermont-Ferrand, play got underway with reigning champions New Zealand marking their win over Russia by Kayla McAlister scoring their 500th try of the women’s sevens series. Portia Woodman also scored a hat-trick in a 32-0 defeat of the Russians.
Fantastic French crowds (Photo: World Rugby)
Despite pushing Canada close in a 21-15 defeat in their first match, Japan were put to the sword by New Zealand in Pool B and the Japanese ended the day with defeat to Russia as Daria Bobkova scored her first sevens series try. In the same pool, Canada came from behind to see off Russia with a relentless second-half performance, but had to settle for second spot in Pool B after a narrow two-point defeat to New Zealand.
England, hoping to maintain the momentum from their impressive last round win in Langford, made a scorching start to Pool A with a four-try defeat of the USA Eagles and were too hot to handle for series debutants Kenya, who battled bravely but lost 22-0.
Spain, who also saw off the African side, secured back-to-back wins after coming from behind in a thriller against USA to win 12-10, but the English ladies won the battle for top spot in the pool, defeating Las Leonas 26-7.
Brittany Benn scores for Canada (Photo: World Rugby)
USA’s 17-year-old star Lilly Durbin scored tries in consecutive matches as the Eagles ended their day with a 19-0 victory against winless Kenya.
Despite energetic and passionate support at the Stade Gabriel-Montpied, hosts Les Bleues lost focus and went down to 10-14 to Fiji, finishing in third spot in the pool after Fiji beat Ireland in the last game of the day.
The second day of action kicks-off in Clermont-Ferrand at 12.20 on Sunday (GMT +1) when England take on USA at Stade Gabriel-Montpied. The Bowl semi-finals will be contested between Russia and Kenya and Ireland versus Japan.
All the action will be broadcast live and fans can click here to see where they can watch the action.
