There might not be any better way to sum up New Zealand’s heartbreaking quarter-final defeat to Australia on Saturday afternoon than “ridiculous.”
With hometown favourites Australia going down to Great Britain in a shocking pool stage upset, it set the hosts on a dangerous path with undefeated rivals New Zealand standing in their way.
This is a match-up that all have come to love and appreciate in Cup finals. But instead, the vibrant crowd at Perth’s HBF Park set the stage for a highly anticipated quarter-final.
New Zealand’s Risi Pouri-Lane and Australia’s Charlotte Caslick stood tall next to one another in the tunnel as they prepared to lead their respective teams into battle. History was on the line.
But nobody expected what was to come. Black Ferns Sevens ace Jorja Miller was sent off for a high shot, and Australia’s Maddison Levi also saw red a few minutes later for a similar incident.
Playing with six on six for a majority of this ‘sevens’ clash, New Zealand fought valiantly as they took the lead after a quick Michaela Blyde double. But Australia were just too good in the end.
“If anyone watched that game yesterday, it was worthy of a final,” New Zealand’s Tyla King told RugbyPass after New Zealand’s final match on Sunday.
“It was pretty ridiculous, I’m not gonna lie. Two red cards in the space of a few minutes of each other. It was just all over the show.
“Pretty entertaining for everyone out there watching but pretty gruelling out there for us. Not how we wanted to finish this tournament.”
The Black Ferns Sevens are the defending world champions after taking out the overall series title in 2022/23, and with that comes a wealth of expectation and pressure.
But, at least so far, the New Zealanders have failed to hit the same heights this time around.
New Zealand’s 41-game unbeaten streak was brought to an end by Australia in last month’s SVNS Dubai final, and they bowed out in the semi-finals a week later in Cape Town.
Looking to put the past behind them with an improved performance across the ditch on Australia’s west coast, they seemed to be tracking well with three wins in pool play.
The undefeated Kiwis then played Australia, and after that defeat, were left to scrap it out for fifth place. They survived a French scare in their final game to win that playoff 14-10.
But clearly, there’s some work to do.
“It’s just little things that we need to connect more on. General catch and pass skills, stuff that we pride ourselves on that’s probably slipping away a little bit,” King added.
“We’ll go back home, look over this weekend and how it went and then bring it all out again in Vancouver in the snow this time around, not the beautiful sunshine.”
