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Lars Hamer

Australia’s women threw down the gauntlet on the first day of the Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens, smashing bottom-of-the-series Spain 54-12 before winning a tough battle against Canada 26-15.
The green and gold were bolstered by the return of Maddison Levi, who missed the Vancouver leg because of injury, as the 23-year-old scored a hat-trick against Spain before getting four more against Canada.
But Australia’s biggest rivals, reigning Hong Kong Sevens champions New Zealand, kicked off their hunt for their fourth consecutive city title by dismantling China and Brazil on Friday.
“We knew that Spain was going to come out firing, so to put on 50 points was good,” Australia captain Isabella Nasser said. “We’ve got some things to fix up, but overall, it’s really good.”
Australia sit second overall in the HSBC SVNS series rankings, six points behind the Black Ferns.

“We pride ourselves on being process driven in our team, so we don’t focus on the outcome [but] getting better every game and every day of training”, she said.
“We would love to be at the No 1 spot, but at the moment, we’re chasing New Zealand, who are an incredible team, and we’ll just take it game by game.”
New Zealand did not get onto the pitch at Kai Tak Stadium until gone 5pm – more than three hours after Australia had wrapped up their last match.
China, who are competing in the Sevens series for the first time in six years, were able to hold off Paris Olympics gold medal-winners New Zealand for two minutes in the first half and went in at the break trailing only 12-0.
But any hope that China were going to remain within touching distance soon vanished after half-time as the score was doubled within two minutes. The match ended in a resounding 45-0 triumph for New Zealand.
“In that first few minutes, it was a battle, and trying to gain the momentum is what we really look for,” New Zealand’s Jorja Miller said.

“Once we set Michaela [Brake] for the first try, everyone started to find their roles and settle in. It was a good game out there.”
Miller also said that although it was too soon for her side to think about winning the Hong Kong Sevens, they were embracing their status as the dominant force in the city.
“That’s what our team looks to do a lot of the time,” she said. “We want to set our mark and leave a good impression on the history books.”
In their final game on Friday, New Zealand beat the United States 33-21.
Earlier, the USA, who won bronze at the Paris Olympics, had beaten Brazil 31-12 in their opening game. France, third in the overall rankings, won their first two matches, beating Great Britain 22-12 before taking down Fiji 24-14.
Brazil beat China in the penultimate women’s match of the night, a result that seriously harms the Asian Games champions’ chances of climbing into the top eight.


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Australia’s Isabella Nasser in action against Spain on day one of the Sevens. Photo: Sun Yeung

New Zealand’s Michaela Brake runs to score another try against Ireland. Photo: AFP

China were no match for New Zealand in their encounter at the Kai Tak Stadium. Photo: Elson Li

Sport

China

Rugby

HK Sevens

Australia bolstered by the return of Maddison Levi, who missed the Vancouver leg because of injury


Australia bolstered by the return of Maddison Levi, who missed the Vancouver leg because of injury.


Hong Kong China Rugby

Women’s Rugby

Hong Kong Sevens: As it happened

Hong Kong Sevens: Latest news

Hong Kong Sevens 2025: Australia, New Zealand women shine, China in trouble

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Australia bolstered by the return of Maddison Levi, who missed the Vancouver leg because of injury

Australia bolstered by the return of Maddison Levi, who missed the Vancouver leg because of injury