- Maddison Levi named world player of the year
- He returned to play for Australia in Dubai
- He immediately set a new record for his country.
Maddison Levi has been hailed as the ‘cheat code’ of Australian rugby after her extraordinary tour de force led the women’s World Series champions to a season-opening triumph at the Dubai Sevens.
Newly voted World Sevens Player of the Year, Levi celebrated with a record-breaking 15-try weekend as Australia opened their series defense with a thrilling 28-24 final win over Olympic champions New Zealand.
Unfortunately for the Australians, under the new captaincy of Bella Nasser, Sunday’s victory – their fifth consecutive triumph in Dubai – came four months later than planned after their huge Olympic disappointment in Paris, when the favorites were dejected without even achieving a medal.
‘It’s pretty incredible. “I am speechless about how I feel right now, I am on the verge of tears, but also laughing and very happy,” Nasser said.
“I’m very proud of the girls.”
Levi’s incredible performance, capped by the winning interception in the final, also helped them set the record straight in their 39-0 quarter-final victory over Canada, who had sensationally beaten them in the Olympic semi-finals.
Maddison Levi had a record weekend for Australia with 15 tries in series defense
It comes after Levi was named world rugby’s best player in Monaco ahead of the Dubai series.
Former Wallabies great Matt Giteau is so impressed with Levi that he has labeled her a ‘cheat code’
After scoring a hat-trick against China, four against Fiji and two against Ireland on Saturday, the unstoppable Levi scored another hat-trick against the Canadians and two more in the 35-7 semi-final victory over Great Britain.
Then, with the New Zealanders leading 24-21 with just three minutes remaining, the 22-year-old Levi, after a difficult final in which she had been surprised a couple of times on restarts, latched on to a close loose pass. from his own line and galloped 80 meters to the line for the winning goal.
Watching her destructive performance, Wallabies great Matt Giteau was left tweeting at X: “Maddi Levi is a genuine cheat code.”
Her 15 attempts in a tournament surpassed the record of 14 set by New Zealand great Portia Woodman in Atlanta in 2015. Levi now has 167 career attempts in the World Series, aiming to surpass Woodman’s record mark of 256.
But she wasn’t the only Australian standout, as her sister Teagan Levi scored a try in the final along with Faith Nathan, who bagged seven over the weekend.
Nasser, who had taken over the captain’s armband from Charlotte Caslick as part of a post-Olympic reshuffle, also scored a crucial try in the final just before half-time.
But it was 29-year-old star Caslick who made the vital match-sealing turnover with just 22 seconds left for New Zealand, who scored tries through Jorja Miller, Risi Pouri-Lane, Theresa Setefano and Manaia Nuku. in the rollercoaster showdown, he desperately pushed for a last-gasp winner.
She helped Caslick win the player of the finals award and then let her adoring teammates harass her. “I think every year we introduce more and more girls and that shows the depth of our program,” she said.
In contrast to the success of Tim Walsh’s team, Australia’s men, the Olympic semi-finalists, endured a miserable start to the season and eventually finished seventh overall after losing 22-20 to Argentina in the quarter-finals, when even a fantastic hat- Henry Paterson’s trick turned out to be not enough.
The Australians then won their consolation match 17-12 against Great Britain, with another try from Paterson, to take seventh place as Fiji took the crown, defeating first-time finalists Spain 19-5.