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Rugby: Fiji, Australia win Dubai 7s titles

Australia secured an incredible fifth successive women's tournament victory in Dubai

The Middle East’s biggest sports and entertainment festival, the Emirates Dubai 7s, came to an unforgettable finale on Sunday with a win from Fiji men’s team and Australia women’s team in the first leg of the HSBC SVNS 2025 Series.

Fiji beat Spain 19-5 to lift the men’s trophy and claim their first SVNS tournament victory since 2022, and their first in Dubai since 2016.

Argentina claimed the men’s bronze medals with a convincing 14-0 win over New Zealand.

Australia secured an incredible fifth successive women’s tournament victory in Dubai but they had to work hard for it in an epic final against Olympic champions New Zealand which finished 28-24. France overcame Great Britain 15-12 to take home the women’s bronze medals.

Maddison Levi scored a dramatic 75-metre intercept try to give Australia a 28-24 victory over New Zealand, breaking Portia Woodman-Wickliffe's single-tournament try record in the process.

The newly crowned World Rugby Women's Sevens Player of the Year had dotted down 14 times on the road to the final and her 15th against the run of play in the last minute got the Australians off to the best possible start in the new season.

"I'm so proud of the girls and how they showed up tonight and for the rest of the tournament," said skipper Bella Nasser after Australia had secured a fifth straight Dubai title.

"We just have such a tight-knit group. The young girls really showed up today and I'm sure they will (for) the rest of the season. We've got such a young and mature group, so the best is yet to come."

Levi scored 37 tries last year as Australia finished runners-up to New Zealand in the World Series and despite her 14 tries at the Paris Olympics, she failed to win a medal.

Woodman-Wickliffe, who retired after winning a second Olympic gold with New Zealand in Paris, scored 14 tries at the US tournament in the 2014-15 season and remains the most prolific try-scorer in the Women's World Series with 256.

Three-days of non-stop entertainment ended on a high-note with British star Stormzy returning to Dubai especially to close out Emirates Dubai 7s 2024 on its Frequency on 8 stage. The much-awaited set from Stormzy saw him perform all his hits including ‘Backbone’, ‘Own It’ and ‘Crown’ to a crowd of over 25,000 people.

The weekend also featured a full 3-day line-up of artists and DJs of all genres performing across the event’s three stages. Saturday night’s headliners Sugababes brought in a huge crowd to the Rugby Rocks stage, and Artful Dodger and Nathan Dawe wowed fans at the popular Beats on 2 DJ deck, with epic sunset sets overlooking the venue’s rugby pitches.

Alongside the HSBC SVNS action, the festival attracted teams from all around the world to compete in invitational rugby, netball, cricket, padel tennis and fitness tournaments. This year saw the event’s biggest number of teams yet competing for the sought-after Dubai 7s trophies.