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'Classy touch': Aussie women's rugby champs hailed for incredible act

Seen left, Australia's victorious women's side help clean up after winning the Seville Sevens.
Australia's victorious women's side were praised for their classy post-match gesture after winning the Seville Sevens. Pic: Getty/Twitter

The Australian women's rugby sevens team has been kicking goal on and off the field, with a classy post-match moment drawing praise from around the world.

Australia's women reinforced their sevens dominance by winning a third world series event of the season in Spain, following a brilliant 17-12 comeback win in the final over Ireland.

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Faith Nathan scored her seventh try of the three-day tournament with the last play of the final to earn a triumph which was hard earned after a battling Irish side, playing in their first world series final, had raced into a 12-0 lead in four minutes.

Yet after the speedy Nathan had narrowed the gap by halftime, scooting down the right flank to score, Dominique du Toit proved Australia's second-half hero, with an individual tour de force that won her the player of the match award.

Du Toit scored an incredible solo try, being brought down on the right flank but somehow scrambling to her feet and evading another tackle before ploughing over.

Then, with the scores level and the game heading for extra time, the Zimbabwe-born Queenslander launched another surging run which took her close to the line before Nathan struck for the post-hooter winner after the ball was swiftly recycled.

Seen here, Australia's Faith Nathan celebrates scoring the winning try in the Seville Sevens final.
Australia's Faith Nathan celebrates scoring the winning try in the Seville Sevens final against Ireland. Pic: Getty (NurPhoto via Getty Images)

"It was a great final, the Irish are a fighting team but it was awesome to see our girls out there fighting just as hard right to the end until that final try," du Toit said after collecting her award.

While their amazing on-field displays were there for all to see in Seville, it was a superb act from Australia's players after the final, that captured the hearts of rugby fans around the world.

With confetti scattered across the field after their trophy presentation, Australia's players took it upon themselves to help out tournament organisers by cleaning up the mess.

Videos posted to social media showed numerous Aussie players chipping in to scoop up and bin the mountains of confetti that littered the field.

"This is why we love rugby," the tournament's official account tweeted alongside a photo of the video.

Fans were quick to call out the players and congratulate them for the lovely gesture.

Australia's men fall short in final

Aussie star Nathan had earlier scored a try in their narrow 21-19 semi-final win over the USA, with Tia Hinds and Maddison Levi adding the other tries.

Captain Demi Hayes was particularly delighted with the way her team bounced back just a week after having their season's unbeaten record ended.

"We were a little bit disappointed with how we'd gone in Malaga so we really wanted to come here and get the win," she said after the side extended their dominant lead in the series with a couple of rounds left.

Hopes of back-to-back triumphs in the Seville Sevens for both Aussie national teams evaporated when the Aussie men were hammered 33-7 in their final by the all-conquering South African 'Blitzboks'.

The men's hopes of ending the South Africans' amazing two-year, 33-match winning streak were crushed when they had Josh Turner and Maurice Longbottom yellow carded in what turned out to be a one-sided final with the Blitzboks scoring five tries in response to Ben Dowling's opener.

Earlier, they'd made the decider with a 28-12 win over Argentina, with a brace of tries from Corey Toole and others from captain Henry Hutchison and Longbottom.

with AAP

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