Red cards fly as NZ sevens teams bomb out early in Perth

Jorja Miller of New Zealand runs the ball to a try during the 2024 Perth SVNS women's match. Photo / Getty Images.

New Zealand rugby has had a rough start to the year with the sevens teams crashing at their World Series campaigns in Perth.

The men couldn’t even get past the group stage while the women’s impressive run of success in Australia came to an end.

Rising Black Ferns star Jorja Miller was sent off in the opening minute of the quarter-final against Australia, for a head-on-head tackle.

Australia jumped to a 12 - 0 lead only to have Maddison Levi sent off for a similar offence.

Michaela Blyde tries got the Black Ferns in front but outstanding Aussie Charlotte Caslick and Dominique du Toit added tries for a hometown 24 - 14 win.

The Black Ferns - who topped their group - have won the past three tournaments in Australia.

The All Blacks’ defence of their title hit an early problem with a loss to France, their first in five years, they struggled past Samoa, then were beaten 21 - 14 by Fiji.

A yellow card against Fiji’s Joseva Talacolo helped New Zealand to early Leroy Carter and Regan Ware tries.

A botched New Zealand move gave Fiji a chance for victory and Viwa Naduvalo scorched away for the winning try from a scrum move.

In this evening’s women’s semifinals, Ireland plays Great Britain and Australia faces the USA. In the men’s, Ireland plays Argentina and Fiji takes on Australia.