LOS ANGELESE, USA — Antoine Dupont inspired France win first men’s HSBC SVNS title in 19 years with 21-0 victory in final over Great Britain in Los Angeles, while New Zealand beat Australia 29-14 with a Michaela Blyde hattrick to claim women’s title
Fans in the proposed venue for the Olympic Games LA 2028 rugby sevens competition enjoyed three days of non-stop action as France men and New Zealand women ultimately claimed the HSBC SVNS Los Angeles titles at Dignity Health Sports Park.
France secured the men’s gold medals with three unanswered tries in a 21-0 victory over Great Britain to end a 19 year wait for a title, with their only previous victory coming on home soil in Paris back in 2005 and having lost all six finals they have contested since then.
Antoine Dupont was the headline act as he joined the squad in Vancouver last week, and since his arrival the French have won bronze and gold to move up to fourth in the SVNS standings.
New Zealand’s women backed-up their victory in Vancouver last weekend as Michaela Blyde’s hat-trick powered the Black Ferns Sevens to a 29-14 victory over rivals Australia to take their second gold medal of HSBC SVNS 2024 in as many weeks.
In the men’s s third place match, Ireland comfortably beat Spain by 24-7 after leading 19-0 at the break. Meanwhile the USA secured the women’s bronze on home turf with victory by 21-7 against Canada, their best finish of HSBC SVNS 2024 so far.
Three of the four men’s semi-finalists had never won a SVNS event previously, demonstrating the increasing competitiveness of international rugby sevens and giving fans around the globe excitement that come July the Olympic rugby sevens medals could be claimed by any team in the line-up.
France just held on to win 26-24 over Ireland in their semi-final after Dupont had showed great pace to race away from three Irish opponents and open the scoring with his third try of the tournament.
Meanwhile, Great Britain won a last-minute penalty to hold on for a 10-7 win against Spain to advance to the final.
Elsewhere, fourth seed New Zealand lost 12-5 to Samoa in the ninth-place playoff to finish tenth, their worst of the season.
Both sides went into the women’s final unbeaten but brilliance from Blyde, plus scores from Risi Pouri-Lane and Portia Woodman-Wickliffe, proved the difference for New Zealand as they closed the gap with leaders Australia in the SVNS table to just four points.
It capped off a bumper day of women’s action at HSBC SVNS Los Angeles with three knockout games all taking place on one day, Australia edging hosts USA to make the final while New Zealand beat Canada convincingly in their semi-final.
Elsewhere South Africa and Brazil finished sixth and seventh respectively to earn valuable rankings points in the fight to avoid the end of season relegation play-offs and showcase the growing strength in depth in women’s sevens as both teams overcame Olympic bronze medallists Fiji and Brazil finished on a high with a win over Perth champions Ireland.
France’s William Iraguha said: “I’m so proud of the group. We worked so hard for this and we’ve been waiting for it for such a long time. Last year we lost in the final, it was my first final personally, but I think we all had this feeling that it must be today.
“I don’t think I have really realised yet. When I get back home and spend time with my family I’ll get to realise what has happened. I don’t think I have much more words to explain how I feel.”
“Everybody played their part and we won. It’s a wonderful feeling… I’m so, so happy, I finally won a tournament.”
New Zealand’s hattrick hero Blyde said: “I’m so proud of the girls. We’ve been looking for that kind of consistency the whole season, so to do that over the last two weeks feels really good.
“Obviously we’re building for the big picture of the Olympic Games but this is one of the stepping stones towards it and the big goal now is to continue this consistency.
“It’s tough at the top but we love having the target on our back and the Aussies have been incredible this whole season so to chase them has been quite fun and we’re just really stoked to get the win today.”
World Rugby Media Release
Photo credit: World Rugby
