New Zealand’s Black Ferns continued their perfect start to the season with a 26-14 victory against Canada in the Dubai Rugby Sevens final.
The 2017/18 World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series runners-up saw playmaker Tyla Nathan-Wong play the starring role on Friday night, scoring a brace of tries and notching three conversions against opposition who were also undefeated at The Sevens Stadium coming into the decider. This triumph followed on from last month’s opening success at Glendale, United States.
“Dubai is one of my favourite places to play,” captain and Player of the Tournament Sarah Goss told Newshub.co.nz.
“It’s been an amazing couple of days, and I’m proud of the efforts of the girls. The new girls thrived, and they will get better and better with the opportunity.”
Theresa Fitzpatrick began the scoring in the third minute, but Canada hit back immediately through Ghislaine Landry’s converted try that put the North Americans into the lead.
The stage was then set for Nathan-Wong, who split the defence right on half-time to earn her side a 12-7 lead at the break.
Gayle Broughton increased that advantage for the Black Ferns, only for Canada to respond through Julia Greenshields’ sprint home from distance. This closed the gap to five points.
A high tackle from Canada’s Bianca Farella saw her, critically, sent to the sin-bin. In her absence, Fitzpatrick sold a superb dummy before releasing Nathan-Wong to cross over unimpeded for her second try.
Sydney is the next stop on the women’s tour, in February.
