Historic Sevens Wins

History was made at in front of a sell-out crowd at the inaugural HSBC SVNS Perth as Ireland claimed a first ever rugby sevens victory on the world stage, overcoming hosts and current SVNS leaders Australia 19-14 in an epic women’s final at HBF Pack.

Ireland coach Alan Temple-Jones was left almost speechless: “Playing Australia in Australia is an unbelievable opportunity for the girls,” he said. “We’re extremely chuffed … lost for words. We’ve had a good focus these last two weeks. We had a lot to improve on after Dubai and Cape Town … unreal.”

Captain Lucy Mulhall said the win had been “a long time coming”. She added: “It means a lot and we’ve been on a long journey. This is massive for women’s Irish rugby; we’ll be sure to celebrate.”

Argentina continued their recent formidable form by thrashing Australia 31-5 in a one-sided men’s final to claim consecutive SVNS titles for the first time, following their win in Cape Town last time out.

“I don’t have words to describe how I’m feeling right now,” said captain Santiago Alvarez said. “I’m very happy, very proud of this team, these young men. Australia are a very tough team, we know them well, we’ve played them several times this year but we kept the focus on our process, our system. Can we keep it up? I don’t know. Today, we will celebrate. Tomorrow we will start talking about the next tournament.”

Great Britain women were impressive throughout the weekend and took the bronze medal thanks to a 24-10 win over USA, while Ireland’s men claimed bronze with a 24-7 win over double Olympic champions Fiji.

Despite defeat in Perth, Australia extended their lead at the top of the women’s SVNS standings to 12 points thanks to their quarter-final victory over arch-rivals New Zealand. Australia have 58 points after three rounds ahead of New Zealand on 46, France on 44 and Ireland with 38 points.

Argentina also extended their lead in the men’s SVNS title race, having claimed two gold and one silver from the three rounds so far they are top with 58 points and have opened a 14 point gap over Fiji and Australia behind them on 44 points.

World Rugby Chief Executive Alan Gilpin said: “We have witnessed a fantastic weekend of world class rugby sevens played in front of a sell-out crowd with a vibrant HSBC SVNS festival atmosphere and a superb music and entertainment line-up.

“Congratulations to Ireland women on their historic first SVNS title and to Argentina men on continuing their excellent recent form.

“We look forward to returning to Perth next year and our thanks go to the Premier of Western Australia Roger Cook, Tourism Western Australia, Venues West, Rugby Australia and our title partner HSBC for their support and commitment to delivering such a memorable event.”

“This is a huge year for rugby sevens with the launch of the reimagined HSBC SVNS and the Olympic Games Paris 2024 in July. Sevens is a key driver of global growth for our sport and there has never been a more exciting time as we continue to innovate and evolve our events to supercharge rugby sevens’ worldwide appeal and attract new fans.”

Alongside the epic rugby sevens action, HSBC SVNS hosted a blockbuster entertainment line-up with over 20 artists – including Peking Duk and Hot Dub Time Machine who provided the soundtrack to finals day on Sunday.

The best 12 men’s and women’s rugby sevens teams in the world will next gather in Vancouver on 23-25 February and Los Angeles on 1-3 for the fourth and fifth rounds of HSBC SVNS 2024 as the race to become league winners at the seventh round in Singapore hots up.

The pool for HSBC SVNS Vancouver were drawn shortly after the final in Perth and threw up some exciting encounters.

In the men’s competition all conquering Argentina will face double Olympic champions Fiji, Spain and hosts Canada. Australia are in pool B with USA and Samoa. A tough looking pool C includes Ireland, South Africa, New Zealand and Great Britain.

The women’s pools are equally competitive with Perth champions Ireland in pool A alongside New Zealand, Brazil and South Africa. Current SVNS 2024 leaders Australia are in pool B with USA, Fiji and Japan. Pool D includes Great Britain, France, Canada and Spain.

The new look HSBC SVNS 2024 features seven regular season events – in Dubai, Cape Town, Perth, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Singapore – before the Grand Final in Madrid.

The top eight placed teams based on cumulative series points after seven events will compete in the new ‘winner takes all’ Grand Final, where the women’s and men’s SVNS champions will be crowned.

The four lowest ranked men’s and women’s teams after the seventh round in Singapore will join the top four teams from the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2024 in a high stakes promotion and relegation tournament in Madrid, meaning every match and every point counts throughout the HSBC SVNS, which is proving to be more competitive than ever in 2024.