USA Beats Australia to Win Women’s Rugby Sevens Series Opener

Nicole Heavirland ran in two tries as USA defeated Australia 26-7 in the Cup Final in Glendale to triumph on home soil for the first time on the HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series.

Alev Kelter’s early try was quickly responded to by Ellia Green, cutting back inside from the left. Ilona Maher, named HSBC Player of the Final, gave USA back their lead before the break, before Heavirland’s double ensured the Cup would stay in the States.

The USA, who had been defeated by France on day one, become the third team, after Australia and New Zealand, to win consecutive titles on the series, having won in Biarritz in the final event of the 2019 series. They were defeated by New Zealand in the Glendale final last year but made amends here.

"It feels incredible," said Team USA captain, Abby Gustaitis. "The home crowd, thanks to them. Numbers one to 12, all the girls back home, we wouldn’t have won without them. A shout out to all the staff as well for pushing us and believing in us. It’s been a huge 12 months for our programme, a few staff changes and bringing in girls. We continued to build on that performance from Glendale and we don’t want to be in that situation again."

New Zealand ended up with the bronze medal, beating France 31-14.

The next tournament on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series is Dubai on 5-7 December, 2019 which is a combined men's and women's event.

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