Magnificent Aotearoa Women’s 7’s Win Third Successive Crown

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Magnificent Aotearoa Women’s 7’s Win Third Successive Roma International Rugby Sevens Crown at 2012 Roma Sevens - (From Lazio, near Rome)

JUST IN FROM ROME: The Aotearoa Maori Women's 7's , the reigning Roma International Rugby 7’s champions, have just won their third consecutive Roma International International 7's crown, sweeping the contest with a hard fought 24-21 win against the powerful Russian National 7’s women’s team.

In an awesome display of 7’s rugby, the Aotearoa team systematically outplayed the Russian side in a tough battle for supremacy. Aotearoa NZ were ahead 19 - 7 midway through the 2nd half but the very good Russian team came back and scored twice - taking the lead 21 - 19 with 30 seconds to go. From the kick off the Aotearoa women took it wide, and then brought it back to centre field where Selica Winiata split the Russian defence, chipped ahead, and won the race. Final score Aotearoa Maori 24 Russia 21.

Coach Peter Joseph and his management team are thrilled with the victory. “It’s a tremendous achievement for us to win the Roma Sevens title for the third year in a row, no one else has come near to this, and it means even more because we worked our butts off to get here”, said Coach Joseph. “I’m so proud of the team and all that they stand for, they are absolutely awesome. I am especially proud of the new younger players who have debuted at Rome and have really stepped up to the international mark and starred for New Zealand”. “All credit to Russia, this was a very tough final and they gave us no quarter, significantly outranking our players in size and weight. But our girls were uncompromising in their defence and played a fast, exciting game with flair and intelligence. We are looking forward to a big celebration tonight and of course to returning home with the trophy next week”.

The Roma Sevens International tournament is now recognised as the first women’s rugby sevens tournament in the world, and the gold medal winners of the inaugural women’s’ 7’s event at the 2013 Olympic Games is expected to come from the Roma tournament.

Details of each result are posted on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/peter.joseph.35
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