Aussie win cements Olympic favouritism

Australian star Maddison Levi scored a hat-trick of tries as the women’s rugby sevens team made a statement weeks out from the Olympics by taking the title in Spain, the final event before Paris, with an emphatic 26-7 win over France.

Levi, who is set for her second Olympics in Paris, scored 13 of Australia’s 21 tries in Madrid, including three hat-tricks in five games with 69 tries for the season the second best total in series history, among men and women.

The Australians also took down rivals New Zealand in the semi-final on their way to victory which left captain, and 2016 Rio gold medallist Charlotte Caslick beaming.

“You notice how resilient our team is for such a young group of girls, just the way they adapt to change and bounce back from adversity, it’s really inspiring,” she said.

“They’ve still got so much to give, they’re so young and they just make me really proud and motivate me to get better every day.

“It’s obviously great to get a win over the Kiwis this morning, we have a ding-dong battle with them, so to get some confidence out of that [leading into the Olympics] and belief in ourselves is really important.

“Like every team we’ll work hard to get it right over there [in Paris].”

Australian coach Tim Walsh said it was a “poetic way” to end the season for his team which looms as a legitimate gold medal chance.

“We are still building and this momentum will only motivate us to work harder. Sevens has it all and particularly in this sport you cannot take anything for granted,” he said.

“Charlotte was at her world class best and Maddison Levi continued on her scintillating try scoring blitz. I was also particularly impressed with Faith Nathan, Bella Nasser and the outstanding Sariah Paki.

“Everybody has contributed both here and at home. We are a professionally run program and we are Rugby Australia.”

Australia and New Zealand share the only two Olympic gold medals and will be the favourites again in Paris.