Dutch win Las Vegas Sevens

The Netherlands’ women’s sevens team won the Las Vegas Elite Sevens tournament last weekend – their first tournament win since turning professional in 2011.

Published by John Birch, February 17th, 2015

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Dutch win Las Vegas Sevens

The entry for the Las Vegas Sevens is not as strong as it was before the advent of the World Series, but this year’s tournament still included national teams from Argentina and Japan, two official Canadian development teams (the Maple Leafs), and other invitational teams (such as Serevi Selects, Atlantis, and Apotella Angels) populated by US and Canadian internationals.

Only two teams went through the first day unbeaten – Canadian teams Maple Leafs 2 and Apotella Angels – with the Dutch slipping up in their first game against the Maple Leafs first team (which also cost them newcomer Pleuni Kievit with an ankle injury) before winning their remaining two games to reach the quarter finals. Argentina – who will almost certainly be at the Olympics - also had a good day, winning two out of three.

On Day two the Dutch beat Argentina comfortably 22-7 before meeting unbeaten Maple Leafs 2 in the semi-finals.

The Dutch teams’ nerves have cost them dearly at key points in previous tournaments, and Coach Chris Lane highlighted a “very nervous warm up” before the game which was “not our best performance of the weekend”. Despite this two of the newer names in the team – Marsha Volkers and Mireille Nieuwenhuis – came good to set up the win though “once again we put ourselves under pressure late in the game with soft defence to gift them a try. But we overcame the nerves to win another game we would have lost three months ago, showing great composure under pressure to close the game out, with the leadership of Anne Hielckert and Pien Selbeck being an important feature.” The Netherland’s 10-5 win meant they were in their first major final since the London Sevens in 2012.

Played in the main stadium during the men’s World Series, the Dutch were again up against an unbeaten team – Apotella Angels - with several Canadian internationals, but were far more relaxed, producing their “best performance of the weekend when it was needed in the biggest game of the weekend.”

“Never at any stage was I worried about the result,” continued Chris Lane after the game. “It was a conscious decision made last night to take the pressure right away from today's game, we sent ourselves the goal of making the final and having the experience of playing in front of a big crowd, so we met our goals. The aim for today was just to relax and enjoy the experience.

“We were in complete control of the first half with our opponents only having the ball for about 30 seconds in the half. When we had the ball we kept supporting and working hard for each other. Annie [van Rossum] again crossed for a great try from our favourite scrum move racing 50 meter down the sideline, then running the ball around under the posts for an easy conversion for Lorraine [Laros]. Lorraine’s restarts were brilliant all game and we regained the ball through great chase pressure every time, which was a big part of our dominance. Pien finished off a great team try late in the half which Lorraine converted from the sideline. We were over the one again in the second half but unfortunately Pien lost the ball in the tackle as she was putting it down. We didn't panic, we just stayed calm and kept working. A real highlight for me was when they did make their one line break, four of our players turned and chased hard to run them down and stop the try from being scored.”

*The next major sevensfor teams, like the Netherlands and Argentina, outside the World Series will beHong Kong Sevens, starting on 27thMarch. The draw for the 2015 tournament (which will also includes WSWS teams Canada and China) also took place this weekend:

*It was also revealedat the weekend that theLondon legof theWomen’s Sevens World Serieswill be largely played at the Twickenham Stoop. The pool fixtures will be played on Friday May 15th– the day before the men’s Sevens Series over the road at the Twickenham Stadium. The knockout and classification games will also all take place at The Stoop on the following day, except for the third place game and final which will be played at main Twickenham Stadium.

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