Heavirland helps U.S. into Sydney 7s final
United States scrum half Nicole Heavirland stiff arms an England defender during an international women’s rugby sevens match on Friday in Sydney, Australia. Heavirland is from Whitefish and attended Glacier High School. (Michael Lee/KLC Fotos for World Rugby)
SYDNEY — Whitefish’s Nicole Heavirland played a key part in helping the U.S. women’s national sevens rugby team reach the finals of the HSBC Sydney Sevens Cup on Saturday, setting up a pair of tries in a 19-12 semifinal victory over New Zealand.
The U.S. played Canada in the final, which began after deadline time in Montana. Canada beat host team Australia 12-7 in the other semifinal.
Heavirland nearly housed the first score in the semifinals herself, charging through a New Zealand defender to the try line before being held up and offloading it to teammate Alev Kelter for an early 5-0 lead. Kelter scored again later in the half, making a defender miss and sprinting through the middle of the defense to slide in for a try between the posts, giving the U.S. a 12-0 halftime lead after the conversion.
Heavirland set up the pass for the third try of the match, offloading to Naya Tapper on the sideline, who then beat the only defender in front of her to give the Eagles a 19-0 lead after the conversion by Heavirland.
New Zealand’s Katarina Whata-Simpkins found open space with four minutes to play, sprinting nearly the length of the pitch to touch down a try and cut the American lead to 19-7. However, Kelter drew a high tackle penalty on Kiwi star Portia Woodman on the ensuing kick, sending the 2015 world sevens player of the year to the sin bin for two minutes with less than three minutes to play.
That didn’t keep New Zealand from making it close. Tyla Nathan-Wong broke loose for another long try, beating Heavirland to the try line for a score, but missing the conversion. With one play remaining in the match, the U.S. secured the kick and Heavirland cleared the ball into the stands to seal the win.
Earlier in the tournament, Tapper scored twice to lead the U.S. in a 17-5 quarterfinal victory over Ireland. The Eagles won two of their three games in pool play on Friday, losing their first game 19-10 to Russia before topping England, 22-14, and Spain, 20-5.
In the match against England, Heavirland scored the third try of her sevens career, leading a break with Kelter and capping the try to help narrow the U.S. deficit to 14-10 at half. The Americans shut out England in the second half to rally for the victory behind a pair of Kelter tries.
The trip to the finals was a turnaround from the first stop of the Women’s Sevens Series, held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in early December. The U.S. finished 11th in that tournament, winning just two of five matches.
The win in Sydney boosts the Eagles back into the top six of the world with closer confines for the next few events.
The U.S. holds the net leg of the series in Las Vegas on March 3-5 and, after a stop in Kitakyushu, Japan, in April, the women will be in the Pacific Northwest region on May 27-28 to play in Victoria, British Columbia.
(UPDATE: 12:10 a.m.) — The American women scored first in the final but couldn’t keep pace with Canada in the final, losing 21-17.