Brazil win promotion to the World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series 2020 after beating Scotland in the final of the world series qualifier in Hong Kong.
After two days of thrilling action, head coach Reuben Samuel’s side finished up as 28-19 winners over a strong Scottish outfit, scoring 120 points in six games at the 12-team tournament.
The final between the two confident sides was a game of cat and mouse in the first half. Scott Forrest’s Scotland scored first before ‘Las Yarras’ from Brazil held a slender 7-5 lead at the interval. Brazil went behind again early in the second half after Rhona Lloyd capitalised from the restart but a potent period followed.
Bianca dos Santos Silva raced away from Lloyd before Thalia da Silva Costa extended their lead again with four minutes left on the clock. It was a lead that they would not relinquish.
“It’s a little indescribable but we worked really, really hard for this. We just told ourselves to do everything we’ve been training to do and we finally did it,” said vice-captain Isadora Cerullo after the full-time whistle.
“It’s an amazing feeling. I’m incredibly proud, not just of the 12 players at the tournament because we’re a much bigger group than that. We’re looking to build even more, bring in a lot of new players and show everyone that our programme is growing and that we deserve to be back on the world circuit.”
Brazil’s route to the final saw them march out of day one unbeaten and hitting the quarter-finals at pace. A last-eight meeting with Kazakhstan commenced the second day and it marked their second encounter with Valerii Popov’s side in the same number of days.
After a narrow 14-12 victory in the pool stage, Las Yarras dominated and made no mistake at the second time of asking. A 21-5 victory was the result and it booked a semi-final match-up against Kenya. In the final four, they continued to be precise with their work, moving the ball well to their speedsters, and their clinical finishing helped them on their way to a 17-5 win.
Additional reporting and image: World Rugby
