The 2024/2025 season of the World Series, which is the world circuit of rugby sevens (a version of the sport played by seven athletes on each side), has started for the Brazilian women’s team. This Sunday (1st), the Yaras, as the Brazilians are known, finished in ninth place in the first stage of the event, held in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates.
The competition started on Saturday (30). Brazil was in fourth and last place in Group C, after defeats to Olympic champion New Zealand (5-33) and Canada (12-38), silver medalist at the Games in Paris, France. In the last game of the day, the Yaras beat Japan 17-14. It was the first victory under the command of New Zealander Crystal Kaua, the team’s new coach.
Each victory was worth three points in the group classification, while teams defeated by a maximum of seven points added an extra point. In Brazil’s group, only New Zealand won all the matches, but Japan, due to the small point added against Yaras (lost by three points), was in second place, moving to the quarter-finals, as well as Canada, which came in third for having a better points balance than the Brazilian (both teams had three points).
In rugby sevens, matches have two seven-minute halves. When the athlete crosses the final line of the field with the ball and puts it on the ground, making the so-called try, the team scores five points. There are also other ways to score, such as conversion, which is a shot at goal (shaped like the letter H) performed after the try, worth two points.
With their elimination in the first phase, Yaras were left to fight this Sunday for ninth place overall. The Brazilians, then, did not disappoint. In the semi-final of the new bracket, they defeated Spain 29-15, with tries from Thalia Costa (twice), Marina Fioravanti, Isadora Lopes and Raquel Kochhann. In the next game, another victory, this time 24-17 over China. Highlight again for Thalia, responsible for three tries. Captain Bianca Silva also scored a try, while Mariana Nicolau scored with conversion kicks.
The world circuit brings together the 12 best teams in the world. At the end of the stages, the worst placed team is replaced by the best placed team in a kind of second division. Brazil has been in the elite, uninterruptedly, since the 2019/2020 season.
The next stage of the 2024/25 circuit is scheduled for the 7th and 8th of December, in Cape Town, South Africa. The rest will be held in Perth, Australia; Vancouver, Canada; Hong Kong, Singapore and Los Angeles, in the United States. In September of next year, the Yaras will still participate in the World Championship of the sport, in England.
Women’s rugby team starts world tour with ninth place. Photo: World Rugby/Disclosure
