The Black Ferns sevens team have won back-to-back tournaments after beating their Australian rivals 29-14 in the final of the Los Angeles tournament today.
Fresh from their triumph in Vancouver where they beat France in the Cup final, New Zealand did it again against the competition leaders in a high-quality match which featured a hat-trick of tries by Michaela Blyde.
New Zealand lost to Australia in the final at Dubai at the start of the season but bettered the Aussies this time despite a head injury to one of their stars Jorja Miller in the first minute of the match.
Blyde was New Zealand’s hero in the first half. She opened the scoring with a try, and, after Australia hit back via Charlotte Caslick, evaded several defenders to run almost the length of the field to score her second and put the Black Ferns back in front.
The sinbinning of serial high tackle offender Maddison Levi for foul play on Shiray Kaka just before halftime was another boost for the Black Ferns but they couldn’t make the Aussies pay and they went to the break 12-7 up.
The Black Ferns made the numerical advantage straight afterwards with a neat piece of manipulation, Risi Pouri-Lane dotting down.
A typical bullocking run and try by Portia Woodman-Wicliffe put New Zealand further ahead and the game was almost up for the Aussies.
Levi responded with a long-range try but Blyde’s third try sealed it, the 20 competition points earned for the victory cutting Australia’s lead at the top to four.
“I’m so proud of the girls, we’ve been looking for that kind of consistency for the whole season so to do that over the last two weeks feels good," Blyde said afterwards.
The New Zealand men, who lost the Vancouver final to Argentina, stumbled to pool defeats to Australia and the USA before losing a playoff for ninth and 10th against Samoa.
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