South Africa’s men and Australia’s women came out on top once again in the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series after an enthralling conclusion to the weekend in Seville, Spain.

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Australia won their third gold in four 2022 Series events, but they had to be at their best to come from behind and beat an in-form Ireland side competing in their first ever Cup final.

Australia’s Faith Nathan scored a match-winning try after the buzzer to clinch a comeback victory.

Ireland’s rise to the showcase match, including a semi-final 29-0 thrashing of England, was the story of the weekend in the women’s event, and they put in another superb performance to push the Series leaders all the way.

“It was a great final. We always said Ireland were a fighting team and they certainly did fight to the end, but it was awesome to see our girls out there fighting just as hard to the end with that final try,” HSBC Player of the final Dominique Du Toit said.

Ireland’s Lucy Mulhall said: “It’s amazing, it’s what dreams are made of. We’ve worked really hard as a team, there’s a lot of love, a lot of heart. This is what we wanted to achieve. Ultimately, we want more girls playing sevens in Ireland, so this helps”.

England’s women bounced back to beat Málaga champions USA and take bronze, their first Series medal since 2019.

In the men’s tournament The Blitzboks beat Australia 33-7 in the men’s final to continue their perfect start to the 2022 Series and rack up a sixth straight Cup victory.

Neil Powell’s side recorded a 34th consecutive win in the final, equaling the second-longest streak of all time, set by New Zealand’s 2001-02 team.

South Africa’s dominance shows no sign of waning, and they were once again untouchable as they added a Seville gold to their haul, after triumphing in Dubai twice and in Málaga last weekend.

Australia were looking for their first Cup final victory over the Blitzboks since Sydney 2018, but faded after a strong start to leave Spain with a silver medal.

“As you can see it’s a little bit emotional. The boys gave a big fight, this is a huge win for our system,” said South Africa captain Impi Visser.

“They are a tough team to play against, credit to them. I think our boys just grafted a bit more and in the end we wanted it a bit more.”

Argentina overcame Ireland 12-5 in the bronze match to clinch their fourth consecutive podium finish.

Earlier in the men’s placement matches USA sealed fifth place as a Kevon Williams try after the buzzer clinched a 22-17 win over England, after the two playoff contestants beat France and Scotland respectively in the fifth-place semi-finals.

Kenya and Spain knocked out Germany and Japan to reach the ninth -place playoff, which the Kenyans won 24-19, while Wales defeated Canada 19-14 to take 13th place.

In the women’s competition France finished fifth thanks to a 26-10 playoff win over Russia, but hosts Spain were pipped to seventh by Canada after losing their playoff 21-5.

Brazil took ninth, overcoming Poland 17-5, while Belgium also clinched some valuable Series points by beating debutants Portugal 40-7 in the 11th place decider.

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South Africa’s fourth consecutive victory sees them extend their lead on the 2022 Series leader board with a maximum 88 points. Argentina are in second place on 70 points having demonstrated their consistency by reaching the podium in every round of the Series so far. Beaten finalists Australia are close behind on 66 points.

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Australia extended their lead at the top of the women’s Series standings with 76 points, ahead of a chasing pack that sees France in second on 58 points, Russia third with 56 points and last weekend’s winners USA in fourth on 54 points.

Following this thrilling fortnight in Spain, the next stop for the men’s Series is Singapore on 9-10 April, while the women head to Langford, Canada on 30 April to 1 May.

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With the highly anticipated return of Olympic Champions Fiji, New Zealand and Samoa, who were missing in Spain, there will be some exciting pool phase action in Singapore.

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The pool allocation for the women’s event in Langford includes Olympic champions New Zealand who will be looking to Challenge Australia’s recent supremacy.

VIEW WOMEN’S POOLS FOR LANGFORD >>

With thanks to World Rugby

The first ever HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series event in Seville is poised for a spectacular conclusion after a thrilling day of action at the Estadio Olimpico de la Cartuja.

In the men’s event, South Africa, winner of all three Series events so far, remain the team to beat after overcoming a tough battle with Scotland to set up a semi-final clash with Ireland.

Argentina will take on Australia on the other side of the draw after coming through hard-fought quarter-finals against France and USA respectively.

In the women’s event, Malaga champions USA knocked out hosts Spain to reach the final four, where they will take on Series leaders and top seeds Australia in a mouth-watering clash.

Surprise package Ireland reached the Cup semi-finals for only the second time ever after winning all four of their games in Seville, and they are up against England next, who knocked out France.

History was made on Saturday, as Ireland celebrated the first time that they have had both men’s and women’s teams progress to the semi-finals at a Sevens Series event.

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In the men’s competition South Africa won a 32nd consecutive match with a 31-24 quarter-final win over a gutsy Scotland side – only two short of equalling the second-longest winning run of all time, set by New Zealand in 2001-02.

Try scorer Ryan Oosthuizen said: “Super stoked with the result. We do make it difficult for ourselves at times with slow starts, letting teams have some hope. But credit to the bench, those guys bring the magic and they finished the game off for us.”

Ireland put in a superb performance to set up a semi-final clash with the Blitzboks, beating England 24-12 with a controlled and clinical display.

A strong second half performance helped Australia see off the USA, as they came from behind to score 17 unanswered points after the break and win their quarter-final clash 29-14.

Argentina reached their fourth Cup semi-final in a row with a 26-21 win over France in an absorbing encounter full of momentum swings with Franco Sabato clinching the match-winning try.

In the women’s tournament hat-trick hero Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe put in a masterclass as Ireland earned a commanding 36-12 win over Canada to surge into their second ever Cup semi-final, and their first since Sydney 2019.

After finishing as pool winners for the first time and putting together a five-game winning streak that was the longest in their history, Ireland’s momentum continued with a superb quarter-final performance lit up by their star player Murphy Crowe who scored three tries and set up another two, with Eve Higgins getting a double and Lucy Mulhall crossing, in a one-sided encounter.

Murphy Crowe said: “It’s not me who does all the hard work in the middle of the field to get me over the line. This team works so hard. Our team back at home work even harder to put us in this position. For the girls to get me over the line, it’s amazing. We’re just going to play our game tomorrow and bring Irish rugby to the semis.”

Ireland will face England in the last four, after the English upset the odds by knocking out second seeds France in the second quarter-final with a 21-12 win, helped by an inspired performance from Megan Jones.

Malaga champions USA remain on course for another Cup win after defeating hosts Spain in the quarter-finals, clinching a 15-0 win with a pair of tries from speedster Jaz Gray bringing her total for the weekend to six.

Their next opponents Australia were out for revenge against Russia in the quarter-finals, after losing this fixture at the semi-final stage in Malaga, and they soon left no doubt about who would come out on top in a clinical 41-0 win.

Sharni Williams picked great lines to cross the whitewash twice in the first half, and Alysia Felau-Fakaosilea added a third Australian try before the break.

Madison Ashby, Teagan Levi, Dominique Du Toit and Charlotte Caslick got in on the try-scoring action after the break to complete a ruthless performance from the Series leaders.

WHERE TO WATCH >>

Play begins at 09:00 local time (GMT+1) on Sunday, with a series of placement matches taking place in both the women’s and the men’s competition.

A place in the Cup final is on the line when Ireland face England in the first last four clash of the day at 15:22, and top seeds Australia’s semi-final clash with USA follows at 15:44.

The men’s Cup semis are next up, with South Africa facing Ireland at 16:06 before the other finalist is decided when Australia and Argentina clash at 16:28.

More placement matches follow, before the bronze finals start with the women’s at 19:07, the men’s taking place at 19:29.

The action rounds off with the showcase events, with the women’s Cup final at 19:56 and the men’s Cup final at 20:26 which will bring down the curtain on the fourth round of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2022.

With thanks to World Rugby