It is the greatest rivalry in the women\u2019s game, one that is long and deep, where matches and moments are remembered, respect is paid – sometimes begrudgingly – and where emotions bubble to the surface.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the sort of rivalry that can send observers on the hunt for a thesaurus, trying to find a new description or different analogy. But, in reality, it doesn\u2019t need it. The players and the games have so often spoken for themselves \u2014 and this season it\u2019s been no different.<\/p>\n
New Zealand against Australia is the most compelling story in sevens rugby.<\/p>\n
To see where we are going, we need to know where we\u2019ve been. So, as the new look HSBC SVNS World\u00a0 Championship series begins this weekend in Hong Kong, there\u2019s a chance to look back at six extraordinary regular season finals.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dubai: 29-14 NZ<\/p>\n
Player of the Final: Jorja Miller<\/p>\n
Like all good sevens stories, this one starts in Dubai with a result that came as a bit of a surprise, at least to this commentator.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Six of New Zealand\u2019s squad were coming off the World Cup having had very little time back in sevens camp, compared to a fully fit Australian side that had dominated in the desert for five years and had toweled up the kiwis at a pre-season event at Mt Maunganui.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In losing to USA in pool play, the Black Ferns looked as rusty as Australia did sharp \u2014 but the switch was flicked in the final as New Zealand raced out 22-0 shortly after halftime to end Australia\u2019s 32-game, 2,185-day winning run in Dubai.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cape Town: 26-12 Australia<\/p>\n
Player of the Final: Bella Nasser<\/p>\n
The beauty of sevens is that the next opportunity comes almost instantly, be it within a game, within a tournament or within the season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Australia needed no second invitation. Just as New Zealand had done the week prior, Australia hit their opponents fast in Cape Town, hassling and haranguing the Black Ferns into mistakes to shoot out to a 19-0 at halftime and 26-0 shortly after. New Zealand\u2019s consolation tries were just that as Australia flexed their muscles and squared the series 1-1.<\/p>\n
Singapore: 36-7 NZ<\/p>\n
Player of the Final: Jorja Miller<\/p>\n
A new sevens season always begins before the old year is out, so with Dubai and Cape Town done and Christmas in the rearview mirror, the new year and the true start of the race to the World Championship began in Singapore in January.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This final is the one I call \u201cshell-shock\u201d. There\u2019s no other way to describe it than a New Zealand masterclass of physical dominance and skill, one of their most complete performances of the new cycle post Paris. 24-0 at half time, become 31-0, became 36-7, as Australia were left stunned.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Perth: 29-7<\/p>\n
Player of the Final: Kelsey Teneti<\/p>\n
Back to defend their title on home soil, with the sun on their backs and roaring crowd behind them, Australia made a perfect start in Perth when Heidi Dennis, an increasingly impactful player, scored early.\u00a0<\/p>\n
New Zealand grabbed the next two and a 12-7 half time lead\u2026after the blowout in Singapore, the rivalry looked well and truly back-on.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Except there\u2019s nothing a Kiwi loves more than winning in Aussie and in the second half the Black Ferns did it again. Stacey Waaka was given one job \u2014 don\u2019t let Maddi Levi anywhere near the ball \u2014 and as the great strike weapon was shut out, so too were Australia.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Vancouver: 24-17<\/p>\n
Player of the Final: Jorja Miller<\/p>\n
One of the beauties of being a sports fan is the endless debates, the \u201cremember when\u201d moments, the comparisons between teams, eras and individuals.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While at times this season has been a two-horse race in terms of who may win the title each week, it\u2019s also meant we\u2019ve been bearing witness to greatness as the two best players in the world fight to have the biggest influence on each match.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In Vancouver we saw, I believe, the single greatest individual performance in a final as Jorja Miller dragged a beaten-up New Zealand team to a fourth straight title under the dome. When Maddi Levi\u2019s name is on the scoresheet more than once, New Zealand\u2019s alarm bells ring, but Miller dazzled with a display of all-round skill, combativeness and mental fortitude to the Black Ferns home in a fierce contest.\u00a0<\/p>\n
New York: 22-21<\/p>\n
Player of the Final: Kelsey Teneti<\/p>\n
If you like your sport with a side of drama then sevens is where you\u2019ll find it. And, in a city that knows a good show, the final in New York had it all, including some significant tension.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s believed the Black Ferns Sevens took some level of umbrage (to put it mildly) at the use of the phrase \u201cthe Miller Ferns\u201d from the Australian camp and the implications of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For 11 minutes of the New York final the Australians were proved right as they kept her out of the contest and forced New Zealand into multiple errors under pressure. At 21-5 to Australia with less than five minutes to play, Alena Saili scores, followed quickly by Kelsey Teneti to make it 21-15 with just over two to go.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then a monster turnover (guess who?), a patient attack despite Levi\u2019s goal-line defensive heroics, and a converted Katelyn Vahaakolo score gives New Zealand a 22-21 win. The most gripping of the lot.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Although there have been peaks and troughs for both sides over the 14 years of professional women\u2019s sevens, Australia and New Zealand have remained the standard bearers of the sport and it\u2019s been proven that if one team is down, they\u2019re never out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
USA are pushing, France are hugely talented and Canada\u2019s cavalry are here so the ball is in the court of the other 10 teams to change the narrative this week.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If not, then settle in for round seven of the most enthralling 14 minutes you could hope to see.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It is the greatest rivalry in the women\u2019s game, one that is long and deep, where matches and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":606879,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44,83],"class_list":{"0":"post-606878","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-text"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=606878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/606879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=606878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=606878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=606878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}