The New Zealand men’s and women’s teams are into the semifinals of the World Cup sevens tournament in Cape Town after winning two contrasting quarter-finals.
Both teams are defending champions and are safely through to the next round which kicks off on Sunday night, the men after beating Argentina in a tight and defensive match 12-5 and the women after scoring four converted tries against Ireland for a 28-0 victory.
The matches were played back-to-back, with the men having to come from behind after conceding an early try to German Schulz, Argentina kicking early in the match and forcing a penalty and pouring on the pressure to break their opponents out wide.
Back New Zealand came through Scott Curry, who was the beneficiary of an inside ball from skipper Sione Molia on the right. There was a hint of a forward pass in the build-up to the converted try, scored by the posts by Curry, but it was awarded nevertheless.
It gave New Zealand the lead, and, given the wet conditions and set piece pressure the Kiwis put on Argentina, they appeared set for the win, but it didn’t come easy.
Moses Leo’s individual brilliance in tidying up a charged down clearance kick and running in from 80 metres effectively sealed it.
New Zealand appeared keen to up the pace but there was a long delay after a bizarre incident with four minutes remaining when the referee collided with New Zealand forward Scott Dickson, the pair hitting the pitch with cut and bleeding heads.
It forced the retirement of the official, with Dickson, a powerful figure throughout, receiving treatment and returning.
From there New Zealand’s defence held. Argentina attacked in the final seconds as they hunted for the try which would have potentially forced the match into a golden point sudden death scenario, but they coughed up the ball after the siren.
New Zealand, coming into the tournament after winning the recent world series fixture in San Francisco, adapted to the conditions well and their powerful scrum, which caught out Argentina a couple of times, was a big advantage.
“It made it really challenging… it made for a really tight battle,” Curry said of the conditions afterwards on the Spark Sport broadcast.
Curry’s men will play Ireland in the championship semi-final at 10.35pm on Sunday and the Black Ferns sevens will play France in their championship semifinal starting at 10.07pm.
The women, who kicked off immediately after the New Zealand men, were far too good for Ireland, who didn’t fire an attacking shot throughout.
The Black Ferns sevens’ own attack took a while to settle, however, following Niall Williams’ try after 90 seconds.
New Zealand had attacked from the opening whistle, with Michaela Blyde prominent, but Ireland’s rush defence occasionally caused problems for the rest of the half.
Portia Woodman’s try under the posts from 90 metres out calmed the nerves in the second half, however, with Alena Saili’s following a neat passing move highlighting how good the team’s attack can be if they get it right.
At this point Ireland were struggling; with two minutes remaining they had missed 13 tackles through the match and New Zealand had fallen off only one.
The women in black also showed a greater intensity at the breakdown, winning several turnovers, and Shiray Kaka was a beneficiary after one of those when running in for New Zealand’s final try.
Williams said afterwards: “Credit to Ireland they came out and put a lot of defensive pressure on us. We had to make one play at a time.”
The women’s championship final is scheduled for 6.15am on Monday and the men’s at 6.50am.
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