Black Ferns Sevens start Vancouver tournament with two big victories

The Black Ferns Sevens scored 17 tries in their opening two matches of the Vancouver leg of the World Rugby series.

The New Zealand women’s side started with a 60-0 romp over newcomers Colombia on Saturday morning (NZ time), and backed that up later with a 43-7 thumping of Great Britain.

Michaela Blyde opened the scoring against Colombia after 30 seconds when breaking a tackle and sprinting more than half the field and had competed a hat-trick of tries by halftime.

Veteran Portia Woodman-Wickliffe was chased down when she attempted to replicate Blyde’s early score, but fended off the would-be tackler to dot down, while Jazmin Felix-Hotham scored a brace of tries in the second half.

The New Zealand side was led out by Tyla Nathan-Wong, playing her 50th tournament, and she also got on the scoresheet with a try and five conversions. The 28-year-old became the second Black Ferns Sevens star to reach the half-century mark, after Sarah Hirini.

Waaka was a standout in the win over GB – who were earlier 26-24 victors over Fiji – in NZ’s second Pool A match on Saturday afternoon (NZ time).

She touched down after 30 seconds and while Emma Uren’s converted try reply briefly put the underdogs ahead, Jorja Miller, Hirini and Shiray Kaka all finished off sharp moves to give their side a 26-7 halftime lead, with Waaka and Nathan-Wong scoring second-half tries.

The All Blacks Sevens side also kicked off their tournament in the men’s draw in style with a 52-0 win over the United States on Saturday morning.

Amanaki Nicole opened the scoring with try after the referee missed a knock-on in the tackle in the build-up, and Moses Leo touched down soon after following a US error when attempting an intercept.

After leading 26-0 halftime, New Zealand didn’t ease up in their Pool A win.