Perth SVNS: Australia women tee up gold medal rematch with New Zealand, but men fall to South Africa

Australia have teed up a rematch of last year’s women’s gold medal game against New Zealand at the Perth SVNS after they downed USA to keep their hopes of retaining their gold medal alive.

But the Aussie men saw their hopes of a gold dashed as they fell to a red-hot South African side in their semifinal and a year after they had to settle for silver in Perth, they will face New Zealand for a crack at the bronze.

After New Zealand had outlasted France to book their ticket to the women’s final, Maddison Levi grabbed two tries in a 26-5 rout of the Americans to lock in a trans-Tasman gold medal match at HBF Park for the second straight year.

The men however, were less fortunate as they struggled to contain a rampant South Africa; they were out-duelled 28-12 and will face New Zealand after the Kiwis were crushed by Fiji.

It was not the prettiest wins for the Aussie women, but they did enough after racing out to a 12-0 lead at the break.

Levi burst through their opponents’ defences to score inside the opening 40 minutes after brushing off the attentions of three would-be tacklers down the middle of the field.

The game threatened to turn against the hosts due to some loose ball retention, but some dogged defence kept them alive and then Heidi Dennis added a second try of the half.

When Madison Ashby intercepted a pass deep in US territory, it was 19-0, although the Australian was forced to undergo an HIA.

Su Adegoke added a consolation try for USA, before Levi grabbed her second of the day down the left edge to kill the game off.

“A win’s a win. There’s always things we can learn on throughout the game, but we’re just really proud of the girls’ effort there on defence,” forward Tia Hinds said post-game

“We all worked really hard and some of our girls have been putting some really good 14 minute performances on.”

Shilton van Wyk gave South Africa an early 7-0 lead in the men’s match, before Henry Hutchison finished in the corner after Wallace Charlie wriggled his way through to reduce the deficit.

Sebastiaan Jobb’s counter-attack try in added time of the opening half gave South Africa a 14-5 lead at the break and although Ben Dowling’s good tournament continued with a fifth try to make it a two-point game, Aden Ekanayake’s yellow card made it tough for the hosts.

Jobb grabbed his second try of the match before Ricardo Duarttee ended any hopes of an Australian comeback.

“There were little moments in that game where we just let it slip, like right before half-time,” Ekanayake said.

“Obviously me getting a yellow card when we were within two points really puts the pressure on the rest of the boys to fight and come back.

“We certainly want to be in the top three, the whole big build up is towards the Olympics, and these are the games you want to be able to get on the on the podium.”