Hong Kong Sevens 2024: New Zealand women and men make strong cases for defence of their titles on opening day
- All Blacks had been struggling for form before this week, on Friday wins over Great Britain and Argentina were a statement of intent
- The Black Ferns are more used to being chased than to doing the chasing, so Australia’s bullish start required a response
The objective is to defend titles, two of them, and defending had a lot to do with how New Zealand’s women’s and men’s reigning champions went about Friday’s first day of the Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens.
Following bullish statements of intent by Australia’s women, beaten in the final a year ago, the Black Ferns played as if defensive about any suggestion they were there for the taking. They hared, harried and hassled to the end of what on paper were two straightforward victories.
The green-and-gold men, meanwhile, threw a defensive blanket over Fiji in what initially looked like the day’s statement performance.
By the time they had lost their closer against France, the rearguard action fought by the New Zealanders in coming through a spot of bother against Great Britain had taken on added symbolism, and so had their later humbling of Argentina.
“It is hard to stay at the top,” Michaela Blyde said of the task facing her and her New Zealand teammates, who this year are behind Australia in the HSBC SVNS Series season standings.
“We are chasing the Aussies. We are used to having the pressure of being chased. We have to maintain our consistency and stay calm. We have been in this position for many years.”
