LOS ANGELESE, USA — There was much for the home fans to shout about under the Friday night lights as both USA teams recorded crowd-pleasing victories to set up an exciting weekend ahead at HSBC SVNS Los Angeles
History was made on the opening night of the fifth round of HSBC SVNS 2024 in Los Angeles as the 12 best women’s teams in the world competed alongside the men’s teams in a combined tournament for the first time in the USA.
There was much for the home fans to shout about under the Friday night lights as both USA teams recorded crowd-pleasing victories to set up an exciting weekend ahead at the Dignity Health Sports Park, the proposed venue for rugby sevens in the LA 2028 Olympic Games.
Australia lead the women’s standings and began their HSBC SVNS Los Angeles weekend in style, defeating Ireland by 31-0 after a fourth-place finish in Vancouver.
Righting the wrongs of their final loss on home soil in Perth against the same opposition, Australia scored five tries to take an early lead in Pool B.
Hosts USA, last champions on US soil in 2020, eased to a 40-5 victory over Spain in their Pool C opener, while last week’s gold medallists New Zealand also started strongly with a 41-5 demolition of South Africa in Pool A.
Brazil won their opening game against Olympic bronze medallists Fiji 12-5 to build on the improvements made in Vancouver.
Australia’s Sharni Smale celebrating her fiftieth tournament appearance said: “They crushed our dream obviously in Perth. We always speak about winning or learning and we had some big learnings. We definitely went out there and attacked it the way Australia normally play and we got those combos right. We’ve only played one game today and we’ll play two tomorrow and then three the next day and we’ll be better off for it.”
In the men’s competition USA won an enthralling battle by 31-12 with Samoa in Pool B to delight the home crowd.
A brace from captain Kevon Williams on his 50th tournament took the Eagles to victory and the summit of Pool B, with Australia and New Zealand to play tomorrow.
Meanwhile, defending LA champions New Zealand lost their Trans-Tasman tie with Australia by 17-24 in Pool B. The Aussies finished tenth last week in Vancouver but a red card for Fehi Fineanganofo helped them to victory over last week’s silver medallists.
Pool A saw plenty of drama as Argentina recovered to win 28-21 in a tense battle with Spain, while Ireland were dominant in their 17-0 win over South Africa to take an early Pool A lead.
Fiji and France were the victors in Pool C, the former snatching a 15-12 win over GB before Canada were defeated 24-7 by the latter.
Former World Rugby Men’s 15s Player of the Year Antoine Dupont continued where he left off in Vancouver last weekend, playing every minute of Fance’s win over Canada and capping another impressive performance by scoring a last minute try.
USA’s Madison Hughes said: “We love playing in front of our home fans. It’s a good environment here on a Friday night but hopefully on Saturday they’ll take it to a whole new level and really get behind us because we are moving in the right direction and with some good home support we can make it a really special weekend.”
Argentina hold a 24 point lead in the men’s standings, having claimed three gold and one silver medals from the opening four rounds. Argentina have 78 points, ahead of Ireland and Fiji on 54 points.
Australia top the women’s standings with 72 points ahead of New Zealand in second on 66 points and France a further four points behind on 62 points.
World Rugby Media Release
Photo credit: World Rugby
