It took just 25 seconds for Bienne Terita to score her first try and remind Australia’s rugby sevens coaches they have speed and depth aplenty on the wing.
Terita’s two-try punch in Australia’s 31-0 romp over South Africa opened the HSBC SVNS Perth in emphatic style on Friday for the tournament champions of Dubai and Cape Town.
More than that it showed that Australia’s has some flying feet to back-up try-scoring queen Maddison Levi, who is serving a three-game suspension through the opening three pool games of this tournament.
- All the scores at SVNS Perth Perth SVNS Day One LIVE BLOG: Mixed results for Australia to start home event (rugby.com.au)
- The Evergreen Sharni Smale ‘This old duck still has it’: How the youthful squad is bringing Sharni Smale to new heights (rugby.com.au)
Terita is a natural on the wing. Rugby fans have already seen it in her 15-a-side performances for the Wallaroos.
Her opener had every trait of a top winger. She pulled in a high pass and then beat the first defender with a fend and an in-away. Another in-and-away shed a second would-be tackler and then she was off like a bullet train to complete an 80m sprint to the tryline. Class.
“Maddi Levi is pretty big shoes to fill but the girls have made my job pretty easy. I feel like I’ve just slipped in quite seamlessly which is really good,” Terita said.
“What I’ve worked on a lot for sevens is my repeat efforts. You go 80m and you have to be ready to do it again.
“It’s pretty cool to play in front of friends and family and we needed the right start to set up the rest of the tournament.”
As soon as the Aussie sevens team walked through the mixed zone, they were engulfed by young fans. Their champion qualities shine here too. Photo requests and autographs left everyone with a smile.
The power of sport to inspire with such an attitude is a core principle for ISPS HANDA, proud supporters of Australia’s rugby sevens teams.
The Australians led 17-0 at half-time with Alysia Lefau-Fakaosilea and Faith Nathan also crossing.
More fend and step put Terita over for her second after the break. The final try was a sweet celebration for the team’s youngest player, Heidi Dennis, just 18.
Given a few minutes as a replacement, she dived over for a try on debut. Teammates rejoiced around her.
It may have been a great start to Australia Day for the women but the Australian men’s team gave up a 14-0 lead to lose 19-14 to the USA in golden point extra time.
The fast feet of American speedster Perry Baker torched them for two comeback tries to force the 14-all draw at full-time.
It brought undone so much good work from the Australians with Nathan Lawson producing a wonderful trysaving tackle early in the game.
A big Maurice Longbottom sidestep for Australia’s opening try was backed up by a Dietrich Roache shuffle step and sizzle.
“The positive was staying in the dog fight. There were no tries in the first half and that game went to the last second,” Longbottom said.
“We know what Perry Baker has got. We know his speed and spoke about it at our team meetings. We went to sleep there for a moment.”
