History was made on a dazzling day of high drama, emotion, and all-action international rugby sevens at Singapore National Stadium.
Argentina’s men claimed their first-ever HSBC SVNS league winners title, and New Zealand overcame arch-rivals Australia in an epic women’s final to win both the Singapore and SVNS League titles.
New Zealand beat Ireland in the men’s final to clinch their second consecutive Singapore title. The Black Ferns, the highlight for those with Hong Kong Sevens tickets, came out to perform stellar against arch-rivals Australia to win 31-21 in the first-ever edition of the Women’s HSBC SVNS Singapore.
In a thrilling conclusion to the tightest women’s series in history, it all came down to the last game, contested by the two sides locked on 106 points each at the top of the standings.
However, a depleted Australia could not reply to a ferocious Black Ferns Sevens performance, including a hat trick from Michaela Blyde. Their fourth successive tournament gold confirmed their place in the regular season standings.
The Black Ferns started their season slow, losing to Australia in the final in Dubai and not making the cut in Cape Town. However, they returned strong later on, building on their success in Vancouver.
Fans with Hong Kong Sevens tickets saw a symphony of rugby as they returned to their usual rhythm.
Hattrick hero Blyde said: “It means a lot! The season’s beginning was rocky for us, so we didn’t want to think too far ahead for this tournament. Still, Singapore has just brought incredible vibes, and coming away with the Singapore title and the league winners is special.
“We’ve just been taking it game by game; we wanted to make sure that we treated every game like it was our last, and I think we did that.”
The final tournament of the regular season also confirmed the final standings. France outshone Fiji for the bronze medal in Singapore to confirm third place in the standings, and Great Britain secured the eighth spot to fight it out in the Grand Final in Madrid.
Brazil joined Japan, South Africa, and Spain to compete in the promotion-relegation tournament.
After seven highly competitive rounds, the men’s regular HSBC SVNS season also concluded in Singapore. New Zealand edged Ireland 17-14 to clinch the Singapore title, and just like the fans with Hong Kong Sevens tickets, Singapore was a double delight for New Zealand on that day.
Argentina Make History
Argentina had to dig deep and find a way to win 14-10 over South Africa in the fifth-place play-off. Coming back from 10-0 down at the break, Argentina secured their first-ever HSBC SVNS series win.
As Argentina’s celebrations began, the All Blacks Sevens clinched the title in Singapore. They defended their trophy from last year and took their second consecutive gold after victory last time out in Hong Kong.
It was an emotional moment when Argentina finally confirmed themselves as this season’s League Winners. Under the posts, a last-minute winner from Tobias Wade confirmed the title, which looked so firmly in their grasp after three wins in the first four tournaments of the season but became less certain after slip-ups in Los Angeles and Hong Kong.
“It’s been such a long time. So many moments, good and bad,” reflected Argentina’s Gastón Revol, who debuted for his country in 2009 after winning the SVNS title.
“The journey was arduous. We kept on trying, training, and believing in this team, and we had the prize that we deserved. It’s incredible to be here at this moment. I’m 37 years old and still here with these great players here and in every other tournament at my age.”
Trailing South Africa at the break, Revol spoke of what it took for his team to return for the victory.
“This is our team – this is us,” he said. “In the difficult moments, we get together and do things like win the match. [At half-time] one of the guys said in the [huddle] that we could, that we have to trust, and we did that,” he added. “We started to believe.”
Great Britain eventually won the race for the last Grand Final spot after a 26-5 victory over Australia in the bronze medal match.
The USA held off a French fightback to win 19-17 in the seventh-place play-off, but Great Britain’s win saw them clinch the eighth seeding and send the USA into the promotion and relegation competition in Madrid.
Great Britain men’s captain Robbie Fergusson said: “It’s not sunk in, to be honest! We were seven points behind in the standings, and I think everyone had written us off, but to come out and play knockout rugby, from game two, to have a shot was an unbelievable character from the boys and the resilience from us as a group to come together.
“We’ve given ourselves a one-shot chance in Madrid, and then we can press on, which puts us in a good place for the Olympic qualifier in Monaco. There’s total belief between the 18 boys, the ones who are at home and couldn’t make this trip, who are injured and are ready to come back in for the next one, and the boys who have slogged it out here for the last six games.
It’s tough going on the body, but these moments make it all worthwhile.”
Revived Format for Sevens
The new look HSBC SVNS 2024 featured seven regular-season events in Dubai, Cape Town, Perth, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, and Singapore, where the League Winners were decided before the inaugural Grand Final in Madrid from 31 May to 2 June when the HSBC SVNS 2024 champions will be crowned in the winner-takes-all event featuring the top eight teams from the regular season.
The event in Madrid will also see the bottom four placed teams from HSBC SVNS 2024 compete with the top four teams from the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2024 in a new high-stakes promotion and relegation competition.
