The final squads for the second round of the HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series have been announced.
With the Rugby World Cup Sevens just over six months away in San Francisco teams will not only be battling it out for the HSBC Sydney Sevens title but also crucial Rugby World Cup Sevens seedings points that will determine the draw for the tournament.
USA, host nation of Rugby World Cup Sevens, surprised New Zealand in the quarter-finals of the Dubai tournament last December and face the Black Ferns Sevens in Pool B in Sydney along with England and Japan.
The USA lie second in the series after reaching the final in Dubai where they eventually lost to Australia but would love to go one better in Sydney.
Captain Nicole Heavirland said: “We have taken time to acclimatise this week but the impact of the travel and time difference means just the one training session per day. That is not unusual in the series but after Dubai we want to get to the next level.
“We have worked on retaining possession and on our tackling and ensuring we play as a unit. We face New Zealand in our third pool match and we know what to expect following the match in Dubai which we won 14-12.”
Since winning the silver medal at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, the Black Ferns Sevens have lost only two of their 42 matches on the HSBC World Rugby Women's Sevens Series, winning five of the seven tournament titles and a fourth series crown in that time.
But they have had a slow start to the 2018 Series and will be keen to improve on their fifth place in the Dubai opener last month.
New Zealand captain Sarah Goss said: “Like all the other teams we enjoyed a break over New Year but we have had several camps since then and our focus is now on Sydney and the tournament.
“We are not too focused on what went wrong in Dubai but we know that we have to improve to get back to the top. It's a case of doing the small things well and the rest will take care of itself. The basics are important and we have worked on those.”
