The Blues recovered from a disappointing loss to New Zealand to finish fifth

Mathieu Warnier, Media365, Posted on Sunday May 21, 2023 at 3:16 pm.

While the refereeing decision did not allow them to face New Zealand in the quarter-finals of the London stage of the World Rugby 7s circuit, the Blues raised their heads by dominating Australia and then Ireland to finish fifth.

Make New Zealand blues thx. Jérôme Daret’s players have qualified for the quarter-finals of the London stage of the World Rugby Circuit 7s, and they have experienced real heartbreak. Up against the team that won five of the first ten stages of the season, Habs competed. If Akuila Rokolisoa opened the scoring, Jefferson Lee was able to respond before Scott Curry allowed the All Blacks to take a five-point halftime lead. Barely entering the match in the second quarter, William Iraguha found the fault in the New Zealand defense to tie the two teams. However, in the process, Tim Mickelson regained the advantage for the All Blacks, with Aquila Rokulisoa passing to convert. Giving it all in the last measure to equalize and grab the stretch, the Blues went to Queen through Joris Simon. Thomas Carroll emerged for the conversion that would have restarted the game… but the French striker took a long time to hit his kick, considering the New Zealanders were slow to step aside to allow him to do so. The referee made the decision to penalize this loss of time by refusing to make the conversion, which confirmed the victory of the All Blacks (19-17).

The Blues are on their way to fifth place

After this twist of fate, the Blues had to recover to finish fifth and finish the season on a high note. The first stage was revenge against Australia, who dominated the Blues last Saturday during the group stage. The first period saw both teams overtake Jefferson Lee and then William Iraguha, both of whom responded to Nick Maalouf’s attempts in the first period. From the start of the second term, Nathan Lawson returned the advantage to the Wallabies but that was without relying on Grinta Pauline Riva. Two minutes from the end of regulation time, the tricolor center fooled the Australian defensive alertness to bring the French back to five lengths. After one last long action, Pauline Riva clinched victory (19-22), allowing them to challenge Ireland for fifth place. A meeting that started with a bang, with tries by Ryan Rebaderg and Paul Lariter in the first five minutes. However, Chai Mullins got the Irish back on track before the break before Shaun Galvin brought his line back to within two lengths on the restart. Pauline Riva consolidated the dominance of the French team, testing Harry McNulty on the last measure that did not allow the table to be reversed. With this success (19-21), the Blues ended their season on a high note and fifth place in London.