{"id":601194,"date":"2025-11-29T11:41:22","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T11:41:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/601194\/"},"modified":"2025-11-29T11:41:22","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T11:41:22","slug":"usa-stun-black-ferns-sevens-with-drought-breaking-upset-in-dubai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/601194\/","title":{"rendered":"USA stun Black Ferns Sevens with drought-breaking upset in Dubai"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The USA<\/a> have snapped a 14-game losing streak against the Black Ferns Sevens, defeating the reigning HSBC SVNS Series World Championship winners 21-17 in Dubai \u2013 an incredibly early contender for upset of the season.<\/p>\n

Sarah Levy was one of the standouts for the USA during their second-half fightback, before SVNS debutant Erica Coulibaly<\/a> raced away from the match-winner. There were some tense moments in the final play of the contest, but the New Zealanders couldn\u2019t break through for a try.<\/p>\n

New Zealand<\/a> started their 2025\/26 season with a clinical 24-21 victory against France, while the USA lost to Fiji<\/a> 19-7. With a new competition format sending the top two teams from each pool straight to the semi-finals, it was all to play for in this second-round clash.<\/p>\n

Kelsey Teneti came close to scoring early, but the New Zealander lost possession while running down the left touchline. Teneti would end up scoring the opening try of the match anyway, crossing for a five-pointer in the fifth minute.<\/p>\n

Su Adegoke hit back for the USA just before the break, as an upset began to brew with a 7-5 half-time lead, but the Black Ferns Sevens didn\u2019t seem panicked. They looked composed in attack, with Teneti completing a double before captain Risi Pouri-Lane<\/a> extended their lead further.<\/p>\n

It was 17-7 in favour of New Zealand with less than four minutes to play, as the USA looked to fight their way back into a winnable position. Levy was prolific during the second term, which included a decisive try in the 11th minute.<\/p>\n

With less than 50 seconds left, Coulibaly got the ball in space, running away for her first-ever try on the SVNS Series \u2013 and what a time to do it. The shot clock elapsed on the restart though, which gave the Black Ferns Sevens one last chance at a comeback.<\/p>\n

2025 Rugby World Cup<\/a> star Braxton Sorensen-McGee attempted to throw a pass from right to left, but the ball hit the deck. Referee Jess Ling awarded a knock-on advantage in the USA\u2019s favour, but they kicked the ball into the stands anyway.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means so much to our team, to show that we stuck true to our process and that we\u2019re here to see our process through and it delivered,\u201d match-winner Coulibaly said on the broadcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m finding a lot of women that inspire me to be better and do better each and every day. I just came in over the past month and they\u2019ve been so welcoming and I\u2019ve learned so much and they\u2019ve helped me through this and made this team another home.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other results earlier on day one at the Dubai Sevens, Australia<\/a> started their quest for a sixth consecutive Dubai Sevens title with a convincing 31-7 win over Japan. Maddison Levi was among the try-scorers as one of the circuit\u2019s powerhouse sides started their season in style.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The USA have snapped a 14-game losing streak against the Black Ferns Sevens, defeating the reigning HSBC SVNS…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":601195,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5311],"tags":[49,978,659],"class_list":{"0":"post-601194","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-united-states","9":"tag-us","10":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115632805178202346","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=601194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/601195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}