BLACK FERNS SEVENS PROGRESS TO SINGAPORE QUARTER-FINALS, ALL BLACKS SEVENS FALL TO ARGENTINA

The Black Ferns Sevens have progressed to the Singapore quarter-finals, after convincing poolplay wins over Spain and Ireland.

Tysha Ikenasio scored a try double, as they kicked off their account with a 38-7 win over the Spanish.

Seeking their fourth straight world series tournament victory, the NZ women had to contend with temperatures in the 30s Celsius and a determined start by their bottom-of-the-table opponents.

Spain were unlucky not to score first, when their initial attack was halted by Stacey Waaka's ruck turnover a few metres from the tryline, and Ikenasio counterattacked to run 70 metres for her first five-pointer.

Jimena Black-Hortiguera Pedrero scored the next try for Spain to level the scores at 7-7, but converted tries to Jorja Miller and Ikenasio provided the Kiwi women with a 21-7 buffer at halftime.

The second half was oneway traffic with Michaela Blyde scoring her 44th try of the campaign and 238th of her career with her first touch, after coming off the bench.

Against Ireland, tries to Miller and Portia Woodman-Wickliffe - her 250th in world series competition - provided an early advantage, but Amee Leigh Murphy Crowe scored just before halftime to keep the contest tight.

After the restart, the NZ women ran in three tries, before a consolation effort for the Irish resulted in a 31-12 scoreline.

The Black Ferns will next face Canada, who lost to Ireland earlier, but beat Spain to keep their hopes alive.

New Zealand enter the event tied atop the series standings with Australia, but ahead on countback, with the top eight teams qualifying for the Grand Final at Madrid next month.

Meanwhile, All Blacks Sevens are precariously placed, after a heavy 33-5 defeat to Argentina to round out their day one schedule.

After trailing by seven points at halftime, the Argentinians kicked up a gear to run in three unanswered tries and close out a comfortable win, bouncing back from their loss to Australia.

All Blacks Sevens now face a must-win match against the Pool A-leading Australians on day two to advance to the knockout rounds.

Earlier in their opening match, they needed extra time to overcome men's stragglers Canada 22-17, with Kitiona Vai scoring two crucial tries.

New Zealand scored first, when Andrew Knewstubb was taken in a high tackle, as he was held up over the tryline, but shorthanded, Canada struck back through Phil Berna and David Richard to lead 10-7 at halftime.

Tone Ng Shiu put the Kiwis back ahead, but Richard brought up his try double, as the North Americans grabbed momentum again. Only a last-minute try to Vai, unconverted, levelled the scores and forced overtime.

The All Blacks Sevens opted to kick off the extra period and barely contained the initial Canadian attack, before Vai dived extravagantly across for victory.

Black Ferns Sevens 31 (Miller, Woodman-Wickliffe, Waaka, Blyde, Kaka tries; King 2 & Pouri-Lane conversions) Ireland 12 (Murphy Crowe, Higgins tries; Higgins conversion)

All Blacks Sevens 22 (K Vai 2, Ng Shiu tries; penalty try) Canada 17 (Richard 2, Berna tries; Webster conversion)

Black Ferns Sevens 38 (Ikenasio 2, Saili, Miller, Waaka, Blyde tries; King 3 & Pouri-Lane conversions) Spain 7 (Pedrero try; Stella conversion)

Argentina 33 (Isgro, Schulz, Elizalde tries; Mare 2 & Wade 2 conversions) All Blacks Sevens 5 (Ware try)

2024-05-03T04:43:20Z dg43tfdfdgfd