World SVNS Series: Australia crush France thanks to Maddison Levi hat-trick as men’s side reaches last eight

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World SVNS Series: Australia crush France thanks to Maddison Levi hat-trick as men’s side reaches last eight

A Maddison Levi hat-trick and Faith Nathan double has helped Australia thump fellow high-fliers France 40-5 at the World SVNS Series at HBF Park.

And in great news for green and gold fans, the women’s team will be joined in the quarter-finals by their compatriots in the men’s draw, after they downed USA 19-12 to sneak into the last eight.

The *********** women made a statement in their victory over France — who entered the match just one spot below them in the series rankings — as Levi cemented her reputation as the world’s best sevens player.

She scored two tries early in her sides rout of France, storming down the wing on both occasions to sprint away from her attempted tacklers to give Australia a 14-5 lead.

Nathan then raced home from inside her own 22 to push their lead out further, before Levi teed her up to grab a second before the break as the Australians led 26-5.

Levi got her third after the break as she once away galloped away from the French defenders, before her sister Teagan got in on the act.

Camera IconMaddison Levi of Australia runs in for a try. Credit: Paul Kane/Getty Images

“We know we can do it, and the times we play them, are normally the times that we let ourselves down and we get out of the game by silly errors and just working our way out of it,” Levi said.

“To start like that and actually go to the gameplan, actually play disciplined in how we like to play, it shows the execution we can put on a lot of teams.”

Earlier, the men’s side got a win by the necessary number of points needed to book their spot in the quarters thanks to James Turner’s last-gasp try against the Americans.

Despite falling behind early, Michael Icely responded with a converted try and then from the resultant restart, the US errored and captain Henry Hutchison scrambled over to make it 14-5.

American responded just before half-time to reduce the deficit to two points, and with Australia needing to win by five or more to reach the quarter-finals, Turner popped up in the corner late to guide his side through.

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Camera IconMatthew Gonzalez of Australia celebrates with team mates after winning the match. Credit: Paul Kane/Getty Images

“That was a do-or-die game for us, we treated that as a quarter-final. In the pool of death, we had to work really hard to be in this position,” Hutchison said.

“Defence wins tournaments. Our defense is usually good, a lot of our focus this week has been keeping the ball, holding possession. So when we can hold possession and defend, as we always do, we’re a hard team to beat.”

The two *********** sides will look to punch their tickets for the final four on Saturday night, when the men take on France at 6.40pm and the women face Japan at 8.45pm.

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