Australia stunned as Argentina and Ireland make history in Perth
Argentina's players celebrate their win over Australia in the final of the Perth SVNS.
It was an historic day at the inaugural HSBC Perth SVNS as Argentina’s men won back-to-back events for the first time, while Ireland’s women claimed their first ever series title.
Argentina continued with their excellent form by cruising to a 31-5 victory over Australia in a one-sided men’s final to wrap up consecutive SVNS titles.
This followed their tournament win in Cape Town last December, with captain Santiago Alvarez over the moon with the team’s success in Australia.
Very proud
“I don’t have words to describe how I’m feeling right now,” he said. “I’m very happy, very proud of this team, these young men.
“Australia are a very tough team, we know them well, we’ve played them several times this year but we kept the focus on our process, our system. Can we keep it up? I don’t know. Today, we will celebrate. Tomorrow we will start talking about the next tournament.”
Their triumph in Perth means Argentina also extended their lead in the men’s SVNS title race, having claimed two gold and one silver medal finishes from the three rounds in the 2023/24 series so far.
They are in first position with 58 points and have opened a 14-point gap over Fiji and Australia behind them on 44 points.
Meanwhile, Ireland women’s coach Alan Temple-Jones was left almost speechless after his side beat Australia 19-14 in a thrilling final.
“Playing Australia in Australia is an unbelievable opportunity for the girls,” he said. “We’re extremely chuffed… lost for words. We’ve had a good focus these last two weeks. We had a lot to improve on after Dubai and Cape Town… unreal.”
Ireland captain Lucy Mulhall echoed his sentiments and said the victory had been “a long time coming”.
“It means a lot and we’ve been on a long journey. This is massive for women’s Irish rugby; we’ll be sure to celebrate.”
Despite their defeat on home soil, Australia extended their lead at the top of the women’s SVNS standings to 12 points thanks to their quarter-final triumph against arch-rivals New Zealand.
Australia have 58 points after three rounds ahead of New Zealand on 46, France on 44 and Ireland with 38 points.
Earlier, Ireland’s men claimed bronze with a 24-7 win over double Olympic champions Fiji while Great Britain women took the bronze medal thanks to a 24-10 victory over the United States.
It wouldn't be an Argentinian #HSBCSVNS victory without something getting destroyed 🤣#HSBCSVNSPER|@lospumas7arg pic.twitter.com/mYk74eFhJt
— HSBC SVNS (@SVNSSeries) January 28, 2024
World Rugby chief executive Alan Gilpin congratulated the winning teams and commended the Perth SVNS tournament organisers.
“We have witnessed a fantastic weekend of world class rugby sevens played in front of a sell-out crowd with a vibrant HSBC SVNS festival atmosphere and a superb music and entertainment line-up,” he said.
“Congratulations to Ireland women on their historic first SVNS title and to Argentina men on continuing their excellent recent form.
“We look forward to returning to Perth next year and our thanks go to the Premier of Western Australia Roger Cook, Tourism Western Australia, Venues West, Rugby Australia and our title partner HSBC for their support and commitment to delivering such a memorable event.
‘Huge year for Sevens’
“This is a huge year for rugby sevens with the launch of the reimagined HSBC SVNS and the Olympic Games Paris 2024 in July. Sevens is a key driver of global growth for our sport and there has never been a more exciting time as we continue to innovate and evolve our events to supercharge rugby sevens’ worldwide appeal and attract new fans.”
The best 12 men’s and women’s rugby sevens teams in the world will next gather in Vancouver on from February 23 to 25 and Los Angeles from March 1 to three for the fourth and fifth rounds of HSBC SVNS 2024 as the race to become league winners at the seventh round in Singapore hots up.