Rugby: Black Ferns Sevens to take on Australia in Las Vegas final

Michaela Blyde of New Zealand is in try-scoring form. Photo / Getty

The Black Ferns Sevens will have a chance to go four-up on the Australians when they clash in the Cup final of the Las Vegas tournament.

The match is set to go at 3.08pm NZT this afternoon, and New Zealand will be battle-hardened after overcoming USA 12-7 in a tight semifinal. Earlier today, they dispatched Russia 26-5 with Michaela Blyde scoring another brace. She now has seven for the competition.

Against USA, New Zealand needed to mount a comeback and hit the lead through a Niall Williams try, while Australia edged Canada 26-17 in their semifinal.

Yesterday, New Zealand also beat Australia 21-14 in pool play and triumphed over their trans-Tasman rivals in the Cup final in Dubai and the bronze final in Sydney.

The news was not so good for New Zealand in the men's competition, where the All Blacks Sevens fell 12-10 to Argentina in their final Pool C match. They will now face either England or USA at 6.22pm (NZT) tonight in the day's final match. The semifinals will be played tomorrow.

New Zealand were very slow out of the blocks against Argentina, almost conceding a try from the kickoff and finding themselves down 12-0 at the break, not helped by a yellow card to Dylan Collier for a high tackle. However, a superb sleight of hand from Vilimoni Koroi led to a breakout try to captain DJ Forbes at the other end of the field to give New Zealand hope at 5-12 with a minute to play. They did not panic and Isaac Te Tamaki duly crossed at fulltime but Koroi, who had earlier left the field with a head knock, was astray with the conversion, meaning Argentina top the pool.

Women

Cup quarter-final

New Zealand 26 (Michaela Blyde 2, Ruby Tui, Portia Woodman tries; Tyla Nathan-Wong 3 con) Russia 5 (Alena Mikhaltsova try) HT: 14-5

Cup semifinal

New Zealand 12 (Michaela Blyde, Niall Williams tries; Tyla Nathan-Wong con) USA 7 (Kristen Thomas try, Nicole Heavirland con) HT: 7-5 USA

Men

Pool C

Argentina 12 (Fernando Luna, Nicolas Menendez tries; con) New Zealand 10 (DJ Forbes, Isaac Te Tamaki tries) HT: 12-0