NZ lift Oceania crown
In their first outing on the international scene since the 2009 World Cup, New Zealand have won the Oceania Women’s Sevens Championships in Fiji, defeating Australia in a thrilling final.
Published by Scrum Queens, August 4th, 2012
2 minute read
Hosts Fiji finished third and have won a chance to qualify for the World Cup - heading to the next stage of the qualifiers.
To the hosts first - who now head to the Asian Rugby Football Union regional qualifier in Pune, India in October. Fiji crept past Samoa 15-5 and then were beaten by Australia but in the key game against Papau New Guinea a 26-14 win was enough for them to take the third spot.
Having already qualified for the World Cup itself, the final was as much about finding out how New Zealand had been preparing behind closed doors in the past year under a new head coach after a nationwide search for players.
The answer was pretty empthatic as they defeated the World Cup holders in an exciting free-flowing game.
Australia's tries came from familiar enough faces in Cheyenne Campbell, Bo De La Cruz (2), Amy Turner and Shakira Baker while New Zealand's scores were through Sarah Goss (2) and Kayla McAlister (2) - two new faces who were stand-out throughout the weekend.
Day Two Results
Australia 22 - 0 Cook Islands
Papua New Guinea 24 - 19 Tonga
Samoa 5 - 15 Fiji
Solomon Islands 0 - 52 New Zealand
Cook Islands 5 17 Samoa
Tonga 40 - 5 Solomon Islands
Winner Match 13 v Winner Match 15
Australia 26 - 5 Fiji
Papua New Guinea 0 - 36 New Zealand
7th / 8th Playoff
Cook Islands 41 - 0 Solomon Islands
5th / 6th Playoff
Samoa 17 - 12 Tonga
3rd / 4th Playoff
Fiji 26 - 14 Papua New Guinea
Final
New Zealand 35 Australia 24