Australia take Oceania Rugby honours

Australia’s women are crowned Oceania Rugby Sevens champions, while others emerge with the rewards of an appearance on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series next year.

Olympic champions Australia have added the Oceania Rugby Sevens titles to their list of successes in 2016 on Saturday.

Australia’s women, were a class apart in the round-robin competition which came down to expected final match with their hosts Fijiana. Led by co-captains Sharni Williams and Shannon Parry, Australia starved their opponents of possession to run out 31-0 winners.

The Olympic and series champions, fielding a number of young players, finished the tournament with 258 points and 42 tries for and just one solitary try conceded in six matches, to give coach Tim Walsh a few welcome selection headaches ahead of the series opener in Dubai on 1-2 December.

“I am really happy with the performance we put out this tournament,” insisted Walsh. “We had different experience levels in the squad with the players who were in Rio and the players doing their rugby apprenticeships.

“Our debutants were outstanding. Emma Sykes, Hannah Southwell and Shanice Parker played exceptionally well and improved on every game.

“This tournament couldn’t have been better preparation for us. It was amazingly run and the standard was very strong. Heading into the Dubai Sevens we have some selection headaches but that is only going to make us stronger.”

Papua New Guinea’s women also had cause to celebrate as third place behind Australia and Fijiana means they will join the 11 core teams in the Sydney round of the HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series in February and represent the region in the 2017-18 series qualifier as well.

Photos: Zoomfiji

Sourced from World Rugby.