South Africa's men and Australia's women win the World Rugby Sevens Series in Seville
The tournament was held in the Andalusian capital a week after being in Malaga, with both nations dominating their opponents
SHAY CONAGHAN
Monday, 31 January 2022, 14:47
The World Rugby Sevens Series was back last weekend, just five days after the tournament held in Malaga came to an end. South Africa's men repeated their victory in Seville's La Cartuja stadium, and they were accompanied by Australia's women on the top step of the podium.
For the South Africans, it was complete domination over their rivals. After being given a bye against the absent Samoa, the Springboks went on to beat Spain 33-12 and then narrowly defeated the US 24-19. South Africa beat Scotland 31-24 in the quarter-finals, before annihilating Ireland 26-0.
They carried their good form into the final, where they beat Australia 33-7 to claim their sixth consecutive series and extend their winning streak to 34 games.
Australia's women also had their fair share of dominance over their opponents. They won their opening two games 28-0 and 26-7 over Belgium and Spain, respectively, before losing their last pool game 10-12 to France.
However, they bounced back with a commanding 41-0 victory against Russia, before narrowly booking their place in the final with a 21-19 win over last week's champions, the US. The Australians faced off against Ireland and took gold Down Under after a close 17-12 win.
Spain's men finished in 10th, a position lower than in Malaga. The hosts narrowly lost their opening game to the US (28-26) and then to South Africa (33-12), before being given a bye against Samoa. They went on to beat Canada and Japan in the ninth-place play-offs, but lost out to Kenya in the final.
As for the Spanish women's team, they performed slightly better than last week on the Costa del Sol, finishing eighth overall. They suffered heavy losses to France (43-0) and Australia (26-7), though they did impress with a convincing 29-0 win over Belgium before losing 15-0 to the US in the quarter-finals.
That defeat wouldn't be their last of the weekend, as they failed to beat Russia (28-0) and Canada (21-5) in their quest to win the seventh-place play-off.
