New Zealand men, women beat Australia in pre-Olympic sevens

Associated Press
Updated ·1 min read

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand's men's and women's rugby sevens teams both set themselves up as favorites for the Tokyo Olympics with commanding victories over Australia in weekend series.

The New Zealand men’s rugby sevens team completed a 6-0 series sweep over Australia with two wins on Sunday, 36-5 and 31-14. They had won the first four matches on Friday and Saturday.

The women's team won its series against Australia 5-1. After dropping the opening match 19-15 on Friday, New Zealand won the next five.

The Australian women beat New Zealand to take the gold medal when sevens was first contested at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. Fiji won the gold in the men's event after beating New Zealand in the quarterfinals.

___

More AP sports: https://apnews.com/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports