Only one women’s tournament remains on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2022 after another action-packed weekend in Langford. Australia has been named the 2022 Series winners, but there is still much to play for as the Rugby World Cup Sevens 2022 in Cape Town approaches.
For the first time in three years, HSBC returns to france with the last women’s tournament of the season, a dual event, taking place in Toulouse from May 20-22.
With little over two weeks before the teams arrive in HSBC Toulouse, we look at seven ladies in the south of France to keep an eye on.
After the HSBC World Rugby Canada Women’s Sevens, record-breaker Portia Woodman dominated the headlines, but Michaela Blyde was perhaps more significant in the Black Ferns Sevens’ comeback.
In July, Blyde helped New Zealand win Olympic gold, scoring seven tries, and she continued her winning ways in Langford, crossing the whitewash four times in three matches on day one. On day two, she added three more tries, including one late in the final that seemed to have given the Black Ferns Sevens the victory before Lily Dick’s match-winning touchdown.
Charlotte Caslick, a standout performer for Australia in the HSBC Games for the past nine years, is in the finest condition of her life.
With 328 points from five events, the Olympic champion presently tops the DHL Impact Player leaderboard. Which gives points for offloads, carries, line breaks, and tackles. Caslick added seven tries to her all-action game in Langford. As Australia won the event and the 2022 HSBC World Rugby Series. She’s one of the Tour’s most popular players, and she’ll carry that quality to the south of France.
Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe, the most productive woman in the HSBC World Rugby Series. Scored 12 tries in Langford to bring her season total to 32. Murphy Crowe opened the tournament with back-to-back hat-tricks against Japan and Brazil. On day one and then scored all four of Ireland’s tries in the bronze medal match against France.
Murphy Crowe has crossed the whitewash 26 times in her previous 14 Series matches. Scoring three or more tries in five outings.
Seraphine Okemba was one of France’s star performers at the Tokyo Olympics last July. And she has continued that success into the 2022 Series. She contributed four efforts to France’s fourth-place result in Langford as a powerful runner with an eye for a break.
Okemba and her teammates will be eager to put on a show on home turf. France has not hosted a HSBC Series event since 2019 due to the COVID-19 restricted 2020 HSBC season. In Toulouse, the hosts will be hoping to reclaim the top spot.