DHL IPA: Brittany Benn makes a boom at home

At the HSBC Canada Women’s Sevens, Canadian powerhouse Brittany Benn blows by the competition to become the DHL Impact Player.

Brittany “Britt” Benn has been one of the superstars of Canadian women’s rugby since she entered the international scene in Atlanta in 2015. Known as solid, strong and often unstoppable, the 30-year-old firefighter played a big role in Canada’s gold medal at the 2015 Pan American Games and bronze medal at Rio 2016. Her ability to make an impact also ensured her spot on the team at Rugby World Cup Sevens 2018.

Britt’s outstanding skill was on full display this weekend at the HSBC Canada Women’s Sevens in Langford, where she led from the front all weekend and was deservedly crowned the DHL Impact Player.

Blowing through the line

Brittney blew by the competition all weekend, accumulating 48 points on the DHL Performance Tracker. She demonstrated her amazing skills on both sides of the ball, chalking up 15 tackles and 24 carriers. The effort helped her team pound England 33-5 to secure fifth place and much-needed points to maintain a spot in the coveted top four to qualify for Tokyo 2020.

Four breaks and five offloads rounded offer her powerful performance, showing that on the pitch she’s always switched on.

“You can’t switch off in a game of sevens,” Britt told World Rugby last year. “Otherwise someone’s going to hit a gap and run down the score and all of a sudden you’re down by seven points.”

Kitakyushu IPA winner, Charlotte Caslick, was three points behind Benn, making a fantastic 27 carries and 14 tackles in the process. Another stalwart at the top of the DHL Performance Tracker, Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe, was third a further two points behind Caslick, notching up 9 breaks and 12 tackles.
 
Overall, New Zealand’s Sarah Hirini and Russia’s Alena Mikhaltsova share the lead at 210 points, with Ireland’s Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe only seven points behind in third.

Australia’s Charlotte Caslick sits in fourth with 195 points but would have to produce a storming performance at the final tournament to have any chance of claiming the title. Benn’s boom on home soil in Langford moved her from tenth to seventh on the Tracker.

New Zealand reign supreme

HSBC Canada Women’s Sevens in Langford will certainly be one to remember – the stand were packed, the on-field action was pulsating and there was plenty of drama.

New Zealand won all six of their matches, reigning supreme over the entire weekend. After the hiccup in Kitakyushu, they were back to winning ways, defeating Australia 21-17 in the final. The victory gave the Black Ferns Sevens two reasons to celebrate: by reaching the Cup semi-finals they sealed their place at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games via a top four finish in the HSBC World Rugby Women's Sevens Series 2019, with their 17-7 victory over Spain giving them an unassailable lead over fifth-placed France in the standings with only one round remaining.

The trans-Tasman rivalry has been the most common final on the women’s series with this the 15th occurrence in 36 tournaments, but it was in complete contrast to the 2018 final when New Zealand blew Australia away with a sublime display of attacking rugby to win 46-0.

Australia went unbeaten up until the final and were in rampant form all weekend – they pushed New Zealand very close but ultimately came up just short. The USA took their third bronze in a row, defeating France 26-5 in the third place playoff, while Canada thumped England 33-5 in the fifth place playoff. The challenge trophy was won by Fiji.

Black Ferns looking good

New Zealand now lead the standings with 92 points after their fourth title in five rounds, followed by USA (80), Canada (78) and Australia (74) with France now 14 points adrift of a coveted top four spot.

With four wins out of five, it’s looking pretty good for New Zealand at this stage, 12 points clear of USA in second. The Black Ferns have qualified for the Olympics and look certain to with their fifth WRSS. 

With one silver and three bronzes to their name, the USA are holding on to second, two points clear of Canada. Team USA will have to outplay their North American rivals in France or risk sliding down a spot on the table. 

Australia make up the top four, and their 14-point cushion ahead of France should ensure that the top four remains the same come the end of play in Biarritz. But in what order?

Next up: Biarritz

The HSBC World Rugby Women's Sevens Series 2019 now moves on to Biarritz, France, for the final round on June 15-16. 

With New Zealand out in front, the battle for second spot is still just about a three horse race, with only six points separating fourth-place Australia from second-place USA. 

The pressure will be on to perform in France. The question is: who will make the impact that could make the difference? 

DHL Impact Player Award

A rugby player produces moments of skill and flair that are critical to a team’s success on the pitch, in the same way that DHL uses care and commitment to service your shipments. The DHL Impact Player Award recognizes such moments using a statistical analysis of individual players performances measured against four key criteria: Offloads, Carries, Line breaks and Tackles. The scores are compiled and presented on the DHL Performance Tracker, where the total score for each player is a combination of each criteria.

A winner is announced at the end of each individual tournament and the Overall Series Winner is judged across all 10 legs for Men’s and all 5 for the Women’s.

Follow #DHLImpactPlayer and @DHLRugby on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for all the updates and insight on the DHL Impact Player Award!

Want to win a trip to Rugby World Cup 2019?
Join RUGBY. DELIVERED. and get your chance
to win the ultimate rugby experience!