New Zealand win Amsterdam Sevens and Inaugural WSWS

from WSWS.irb.com:

New Zealand won the Amsterdam Sevens, the fourth and final round of the inaugural IRB Women’s Sevens World Series, beating Canada 33-24 in an enthralling final to win their third Cup of the season.

Sean Horan’s side had earlier beaten Spain 14-5 in the Cup quarter finals to ensure they would lift the inaugural World Series title as well, finishing the Series with 74 points, ahead of England (60), Canada (52), and USA (48).

Portia Woodman ended the season as the top points (105) and try (21) scorer and she scored the try that gave New Zealand a 28-24 lead before Vaine Greig secured the win.

Earlier Woodman scored one of four New Zealand tries in their semi final victory over the impressive Russians, with the hosts of the 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens going on to finish third after they beat England 26-5 and finish the Series in sixth with 40 points.

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Canada came from 7-0 behind to beat England 12-7 in their semi final thanks to tries from Bianca Farella and Kelly Russell to reach their first Cup final of the season having earlier beaten North American rivals USA 19-5 with Kayla Moleschi, Mandy Marchak and former Canadian netball star Brittany Waters scoring their tries.

The USA won the Plate, while there was also celebration for hosts the Netherlands who beat South Africa to win the Bowl.

In the other Cup quarter finals Ruth Laybourn scored both of England’s tries in their 19-0 victory against France while Russia also came from behind to beat Australia having trailed 10-0 at half time with Etakerina Kazakova (2) and Anny Malygina giving them a 19-10 victory.

Plate triumph for USA

Captain Vanesha McGee scored the winning try as USA beat Spain 17-12 in sudden death extra time of the Plate final in Amsterdam.

Spain reached the Plate final beating Australia 15-5 with Elisabet Martinez securing the win despite Emilee Cherry scoring her 10th try of the Series while USA beat France 10-7 to book their place in the final. Australia finished seventh after beating France 14-12.

Hosts lift Bowl 

The Netherlands ended their home tournament celebrating lifting the Bowl after a 32-0 win against South Africa.

Earlier they beat Brazil 31-0 in the Bowl semi finals with Pien Selbeck and Kelly Van Harskamp scoring twice in the win. South Africa beat China 19-7 to reach the final, but there was a big cheer for Yi Zhenzhu who scored China’s first try of the tournament before they beat Brazil to finish 11th.

View the full results from Amsterdam 7s here.