The final leg of the World Rugby Sevens Series delivered a weekend of dramatic upsets, standout individual performances and historic triumphs at Stade Atlantique in Bordeaux, France, over the weekend.
In the women’s overall title decider, Australia produced a last-gasp turnaround to secure the crown, outlasting the season-long leading New Zealand Black Ferns 26-19 in a high-stakes final. Australian star winger Maddison Levi, who only returned to the pitch for the semifinals after sustaining a left knee injury the previous week in Valladolid, emerged as the match-winner. Levi crossed for two tries to push her season-leading try tally to 64, and delivered two game-changing try-saving tackles from behind on New Zealand’s Katelyn Vaha’akolo to defuse late Black Ferns momentum.
Levi’s opening first-half try gave Australia a 14-7 halftime advantage. After Vaha’akolo cut Australia’s lead to just two points, tries from Faith Nathan and Levi sealed the victory for Australia, securing the side its fifth women’s World Rugby Sevens Series title across the 13 editions of the competition. New Zealand had dominated the entire regular season, but Australia won the final two legs of the three-stage championship decider to edge out the Black Ferns by four points in the overall standings.
“It’s been our most consistent season,” Levi said after the match. “We’ve been in every single final. Even win or lose, we’re building as a program, we’re creating depth and trust. Going out there and beating a pretty amazing New Zealand side, they’re always tough, so it’s pretty awesome to help the girls.”
In the men’s competition, South Africa’s Blitzboks retained their overall men’s World Rugby Sevens Series crown by reaching the semifinal stage, even though they failed to progress to the Bordeaux tournament final after falling to host nation France. France capitalized on their home advantage to make history, claiming their first home World Rugby Sevens tournament title in 21 years with a 14-5 final victory over New Zealand.
The French side had fallen 21-26 to New Zealand in the pool stage two days earlier, but pulled off a stunning upset in front of a home crowd, with Celian Pouzelgues scoring the match-winning try with just 31 seconds left on the clock. Rayan Rebbadj kicked the conversion after France’s opening try, and the match remained tight through the second half: after Pouzelgues was sin-binned for a high tackle, New Zealand’s Jayden Keelan scored to pull the Kiwis ahead 7-5. A second Pouzelgues try was ruled out early in the second half, but France kept pressing, and when New Zealand playmaker Akuila Rokolisoa was yellow-carded for deliberately kicking the ball away after the final whistle, the host side broke through, with Pouzelgues slipping a tackle near the posts to score the decisive try.
In the overall men’s standings, South Africa finished first, with New Zealand in second and Spain clinching a best-ever third place finish. Host France ended the tournament seventh overall. To cap off the weekend, World Rugby named South Africa’s Tristan Leyds the men’s World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year, while New Zealand’s Jorja Miller claimed the women’s award for the second consecutive season.