27 January 2020

Black Ferns take the inaugural New Zealand Sevens title

The Black Ferns claimed victory at home to take the inaugural New Zealand Sevens crown and yet another world sevens series win.

New Zealand also won the Dubai and Cape Town titles recently.

The final in Hamilton was a repeat of the Dubai Sevens against Canada.

Canada came out firing, scoring first through Brittany Benn in the fifth minute. In the process of scoring, Benn was hit with a high tackle from Ruby Tui which saw her head to the sin bin for two minutes

Despite being a player down, New Zealand's Michaela Blyde went over just before half-time to bring the scores level.

The Black Ferns celebrate their series win (Twitter: Black Ferns)

Blyde then scored again early into the second half for her eighth try of the tournament. Niall Williams added another which secured New Zealand's series win with a 19-7 victory.

Black Ferns captain Sarah Hirini said: "This is massive. To everyone who has supported us over the last couple of days, thank you very much. We love all of our fans here in New Zealand.

“It was the heart and grit that got us over the line, we’ve been training for this for so long to be playing in New Zealand. Canada are amazing but the way that the girls fought to get the ball back in – obviously we’ve got some speedsters to score us some tries as well.”

Elsewhere, Australia's Emilee Cherry won the Mark of Excellence award after a stunning series which saw her return to the field just seven months after giving birth.

Cherry scored two tries in her first match back for The Aussies. She said after receiving the award: "It's been an absolute privilege to wear the Australian jersey again.

"It was a moment that I was unsure whether I'd get the opportunity to, it was an incredible feeling."

All the teams will once again take the field for the Sydney Sevens this weekend.

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