U.S. women upset New Zealand
USA captain Nicole Heavirland of Whitefish attacks against France on day one of the HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series 2018 in Dubai on Thursday. (Mike Lee/KLC fotos for World Rugby)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The U.S. women’s national rugby sevens team pulled off a last ditch try to upset five-time defending world champion New Zealand 14-12 in the quarterfinals of the Dubai 7s tournament on Friday morning.
Trailing 12-7 with no time remaining, Kelsi Stockart caught the New Zealand defense sleeping, taking the ball from a ruck and slipping past the Kiwis untouched 70 meters for a try. Alev Kelter housed the chip shot conversion to lift the Eagles to victory.
It was a stark reversal of fortunes from the last match of pool play, when the Kiwis blasted the U.S. side 45-14. Whitefish’s Nicole Heavirland, the captain for the Eagles at the tournament, scored a try in the second half of the New Zealand rout.
The U.S. split its earlier matches in pool play, falling to France 19-17 and beating South Africa 19-15 with the help of two Heavirland conversions.
The quarterfinal upset over New Zealand was the first win over the Kiwis in the last four tries, dating back to a semifinal win in February in Sydney, Australia.
The U.S. will play Russia in the semifinals early Friday morning in the U.S., with the match kicking off at 2:30 a.m. MT. The Eagles lost to Russia 26-21 in the last meeting between the squads, a fifth-place final in Canada on Memorial Day weekend.