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All Blacks Sevens cap perfect weekend at the National Stadium with HSBC Rugby Sevens triumph

New Zealand’s spine-tingling haka took centre stage, after confetti was blasted into the air and pyrotechnic flames went off behind them at the National Stadium.

It marked a perfect Sunday for the All Blacks Sevens as they clinched the HSBC Singapore Rugby Sevens title for the first time since 2005 and became the first men’s team other than hosts France to qualify for the 2024 Olympic Games.

The Kiwis, who were well-organised defensively throughout the weekend, won all their matches, including a 19-10 victory over Fiji in the semi-finals to avenge their 2022 final loss.

That win not only booked them a place in the final but also a ticket to Paris.

In the decider, they edged out a competitive Argentina 19-17 with Dylan Collier, Moses Leo and Brady Rush scoring the tries.

Fiji took the bronze with a 24-19 win over Samoa.

This season’s World Rugby Sevens Series also doubles as an Olympic qualifier, with the top four sides earning slots in Paris.

The Kiwis, who also succeeded in Sydney, Los Angeles and Hong Kong, lead the standings with 164 points with only two events to go, which means they will not finish lower than fourth. They last won the series in 2020.

Captain Collier, a member of the silver-medal squad at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, said the weekend could not have gone better for them.

He added: “We definitely wanted to come out here and win this weekend and we knew qualifying for the Olympics will take care of itself. Now we really want to go and win this world series. Doing well the last two weeks has obviously put us in good stead for that.”

New Zealand coach Clark Laidlaw said he was “super proud” of his charges.

On qualifying for the Olympics, he said: “It means everything. The first thing this year is to qualify for the Olympics. Everybody talks about the Olympics, but you got to be there to have a crack.

“So yeah, we’re super, super happy that we’ve managed to do that and to win another final.”

In the stands, the two-day extravaganza attracted close to 40,000 local and foreign fans of all ages, with most decked out in the colours of the teams they had come to watch.

The Fiji supporters with blue wigs, the All Blacks fans in black and the Australia followers in bright yellow were the easiest to spot.

The 2016 to 2018 editions of the Singapore Sevens drew 140,000 fans in all, while the 2019 event attracted 57,000 overall. But the number dropped to 22,000 in 2022 as daily attendance was capped at 12,000 as part of the Covid-19 curbs.

The current deal for Singapore to host one of the series’ 10 legs ended with this weekend’s event.

The current deal for Singapore to host one of the series’ 10 legs ended with this weekend’s event. ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG

 

While World Rugby’s head of sevens competitions, Douglas Langley, said earlier that talks are ongoing with Sport Singapore and the Sports Hub over the future of hosting the event, Laidlaw hopes they can return to defend the title.

The Kiwi coach said: “We love coming here. It’s an amazing city. It’s a beautiful stadium and it’s probably one of the best we have played in the world.

“It’s loud. I can only imagine what it would be like if it was full and how noisy it would be. So hopefully, Singapore can stay on the circuit.”

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