Some of the the superstars from the Aussie sevens women's team have signed Super Rugby deals to take aim at next year's World Cup.
Nine Aussie sevens players have signed for Super Rugby to try and make the national team for the 2025 Rugby World Cup.
Record-breaking try-scorer Maddison Levi, who won 2024 World Rugby sevens player of the year, is among the players to sign.
Levi’s sister Teagan and veteran sevens star Charlotte Caslick have also put their name on the dotted line. Isabella Nasser, Khali Henwood, Sariah Paki, Demi Hayes, Tia Hinds and Bienne Terita round off the list.
Next year’s tournament is proving to be a big draw for sevens player with the Aussie players the latest to switch to 15s to try and be involved in the competition being held in England. USA superstar Ilona Maher signed for Bristol Bears earlier in December with the same goal in mind.
The transition between sevens and 15s is more common in women’s rugby. Players like England’s Megan Jones, Mo Hunt and Wales’ Jasmine Joyce frequently switch between the codes.
Related: Ilona Maher signs for Bristol
While players have previously moved from sevens to 15s to play at a RWC, this tournament feels significant. Some of the biggest stars on the planet are making the transition to be a part of a history-making tournament.
The 2025 competition has already sold 220,000 tickets. It is thought the final at Twickenham, now called Allianz Stadium, will be sold out.
Aussie sevens: Who are the stars of the team?
Maddison Levi is one such huge star who wants to grace England’s pitches in 2025. She is one of, if not the biggest women’s sevens player at this moment in time. Levi scores tries for fun, dotting down 14 times at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Caslick is another landmark signing which fans will want to see pull on the Aussie jersey next year. She has won Olympic gold, sevens RWC gold and Commonwealth gold and is the longest-serving player in Australia women’s sevens history. She also became the first woman to play in 50 sevens tournaments. Now she is targeting 15s glory.
All of the sevens players bring success with them. The team have been World Rugby Sevens Series champions three times, in 2016, 2018 and 2022. They are two-time World Cup sevens winners. They have a gold and silver medal from the 2022 and 2018 Commonwealth Games respectively.
Australia also won gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
It was a shock when Australia finished fourth at the Paris Games. They were among the favourites to take gold but they lost to Canada in the semi-final and USA in the bronze medal final.
General Manager Australia Women’s High Performance, Jaime Fernandez, said in a statement: “The ability to play multiple formats of the game is a unique and special opportunity, as is representing one’s country in some of the biggest sporting events in the world – the Olympic Games and a Rugby World Cup.
“Working to the respective schedules and with a view to increasing player depth and strengthening our talent pool, we aim to have the best players available and competing at world events annually.”
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