Gold medal Black Ferns Sevens take on world again without three champions

The 12th edition of the World Sevens Series (SVNS) starts in earnest next weekend in Dubai. 
Australia are the defending champions having won the Grand Final in Madrid in May. They also won the 2023 Dubai Sevens, snapping New Zealand’s 41-game unbeaten streak in the process.
The Black Ferns Sevens are Olympic champions and won the League series title which is the accumulation of points across the entire series. 
The completion of an Olympics cycle typically results in significant changes and this season is no different. 
Black Ferns Experience Exodus
New Zealand has won 35 of the 57 tournaments contested since World Series-style competition started for women on November 30, 2012. 
This season the Black Ferns will be without Tyla King, Portia Woodman-Wickliffe, Stacey Waaka and initially Michaela Blyde. 
Woodman-Wickliffe, scorer of a record 256 SVNS tries, has retired. The second highest try scorer, Blyde, is on leave. 
Double Olympic gold medalist Stacey Waaka has joined Tyla King, the all-time leading SVNS scorer with 1448 points, in rugby league.  In any case, Waaka was listed as injured on a New Zealand Rugby press release, so is unavailable for selection.
The entire quartet is a massive loss but the absence of King will be most keenly felt. Who will be the main goal kicker? Risaleaana Pouri-Lane and Manaia Nuku are the most likely candidates with the emerging Maia Davis also a sharpshooter. 
Playmaking duties will be shared between Pouri-Lane, Nuku, and the returning Kelly Brazier. 
Mastering restarts could be the biggest area of concern for the Black Ferns. King was a genius in regaining possession, the most important skill in Sevens, Black Ferns assistant coach Stu Ross explained to LockerRoom in July. 
“Tyla King is the best kicker in the world. She’s good enough to execute multiple options…Kick-offs are the most important part of Sevens. On average we can score within 40 or 50 seconds if we get the ball back. When the opposition gets it, we defend for an average of 60 to 90 seconds.”
Greater responsibility will be shouldered by Jorja Miller who ranked inside the top 10 of the 2023/24 SVNS for points, tries, tackles and offloads. Jazmin Flex-Hotham offers great versatility, and is most likely to settle in her preferred position of centre where she has said her goal is to become the “best in the world.”
Rookies Rise Up
The Black Ferns Sevens named three debutants for the Dubai sevens. World class fifteens winger Katelyn Vahaakolo will have little trouble switching with 19 tries in 14 Tests. Less is known about Justine McGregor and Olive Watherston.
Watherson (20) first came to the attention of Sevens selectors as the youngest player selected for the 2021 Red Bull Ignite7 tournament. Born and raised in Central Otago, she has since relocated to the Bay of Plenty where she has played nine Farah Palmer Cup matches for the province. In 2023 she was part of Chiefs Manawa for Super Rugby Aupiki.  
When Justine McGregor was contracted in February she joined veterans Risi Pouri-Lane and Tenika Willison as the youngest Black Ferns Sevens contracted players, at 17.
A product of St Mary’s College, Wellington, McGregor’s natural talent was no more obvious than in her starting debut in the Farah Palmer Cup against defending champions Canterbury in Christchurch in 2023. The visitors were smashed 58-29 but McGregor scored three tries, including a swiftly anticipated 60m inception and a 40m solo runaway.
McGregor became the youngest player selected in the Black Ferns XV in September 2023 when they beat Manu Sina 38-12 in Pukekohe. Her impact from the bench was immediate, delivering a try-scoring pass to lock Laura Bayfield.
“I love Sevens. I’m typically a centre or first-five, though I’m adaptable and can play in the forwards. I love the speed of the game and the space it provides,” McGregor said when profiled by LockerRoom in February. 
Emerging Canada
Canada only won 20 of 43 matches in the last SVNS season but ended a 27-game losing streak against New Zealand with victory in the pool stage of the SVNS Grand Final in Madrid. They led 21-0 at half-time, scoring the most points of any team this season in the first half against New Zealand. 
Canada also scored their first victory in Fifteens’ against the Black Ferns in May. Fancy Bermudez scored two tries in that Christchurch triumph that ended a 17-match-losing streak.
In the Olympic final, Canada could easily have pulled off an upset when New Zealand was anchored on their goal line with a minute remaining and only ahead 14-12.
Canada’s only survivors from Tokyo 2020 were Charity Williams, Olivia Apps and Keyara Wardley. That trio returns this season. Krissy Scurfeld is a prolific try scorer. Piper Logan, Asia Hogan-Rochester, Carissa Norsten, and Shalaya Valenzuela are others that have shown huge growth and provide real value. 
Machine Maddison and those Aussies
With four championships, Australia is the only team besides New Zealand to win overall SVNS honours. 
At the Olympics Australia choked and finished fourth but boasted the best player at the Games. Maddison Levi became the all-time leading try scorer (14) and point scorer (70) in a single Olympics in Paris. Levi’s haul included three hat-tricks.
A genuine superstar, Levi made her debut at Tokyo 2020, scoring three tries, and has gone on to become the fastest Australian woman to score 100 tries in SVNS. She has been the top try-scorer in each of the past two seasons, with 57 in 2023 and then breaking her own record with 69 in 2024. 
With crosscode appeal, Levi has been courted by league and the AFL but has insisted Sevens is her game for now. She recently told Rugby Australia: “I think, ultimately, I want to go down one of the greatest wingers to play the game. 
Portia Woodman just retired and she’s got this big legacy. So I’d like to follow in her footsteps and ultimately leave the game with having my name branded in the game, which would be pretty special.”
With 297 points in 18 tournaments it’s worth noting Maddison’s sister Teagan Levi is more than useful as well
Meanwhile former All Black Liam Barry replaces the long serving Tim Walsh as Aussie coach. Barry spent six years in the All Blacks Sevens system under current Hurricanes boss Clark Laidlaw.
“I’m not looking to reinvent the wheel but rather build on what is already there,” he told Rugby Australia this month. “The players are fit, fast and skilful and I’m looking forward to working with them.”
Barry will be joined on the Australian coaching staff by recently inducted World Rugby Hall of Famer Emilee Barton (nee Cherry). Cherry scored 131 tries in 159 series matches and as a player and coach has won an Olympic, World Cup, and Commonwealth Games gold medal.
Returning players to watch include Charlotte Caslick (53 tournaments, 176 tries), Faith Nathan (25 tournaments, 96 tries) and Bienne Terita (15 tournaments, 32 tries).
Wealthy USA
Perhaps the most dramatic try of the Olympics was when Alex Sedrick sprinted 80m to secure the USA a bronze medal in their playoff against Australia. 
Sedrick returns in 2024 to an American team that has a large turnover of experienced players but renewed enthusiasm behind the program. 
Following the bronze medal in Paris, billionaire Michele Kang donated $4 million to USA rugby to “grow the sport and provide more resources ahead of the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.”
US coach Emile Bydwell commented: “Michele is an ultra-successful businesswoman, a trailblazer in the women’s sports space, the very definition of a ‘Highwoman,’ Highwoman are who we aspire to be; brave, resilient, selfless, confident and successful women with integrity and a strong sense of identity.
“Our next chapter is exciting and initially about rebuilding. We were a mature squad in Paris. About half of the squad has retired but that opens up opportunities.
“When I select players for next season, I won’t be just looking at the here and now. I’ll be asking what their ceiling is in four to eight years.”
The most significant retirement is that of Naya Tapper who is the all-time leading try scorer for the USA with 129 tries. Tapper’s chase-down try-saving tackle against Ireland in Dubai Sevens 2021 was named the #1 play on ESPN’s SportsCenter Top 10 Plays.
The world’s most followed rugby player on social media Iona Maha returns.
Kaua Heads Brazil
Crystal Kaua enjoyed enormous success as a coach in New Zealand turning Hamilton Girls’ High School into national fifteens and Sevens champions before becoming the first woman to coach a Super Rugby Aupiki franchise, leading Chiefs Manawa to two finals while beating every team in the competition along the way. 
Kaua has recently taken up a position with Brazil where her ability to build a successful programme will be evident.
“This is the very start of our new journey. We want to change the way they play and see the game, to help them learn how to better read the pictures across the board and use the speed and that acceleration that has made a difference for Brazil in the last couple of years,” she told Rugby Pass.
“I am really impressed with the team. We explained what needed to be changed, the skill set required to be here, what our goals are going forward and how our fitness must go to a higher level, and they accepted it.
“These first three or four months I just need to understand the players, understand Brazil and how it works. It is a completely new world and culture for me, and I need to take the time to really understand who they are.”
Brazil, with China who improved six places at the Olympics and have had assistance from All Blacks Sevens legend Sir Gordon Tietjens, could be dark horses.
SVNS Series Dates
Competing Countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Fiji, France, Great Britain, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, USA.