Australia win opening World Rugby Women's Sevens Series with victory over Russia

Australia have won the opening Women's Sevens Series event of the season ©World Rugby

Australia got their HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series campaign off to the perfect start as they claimed victory at the opening event of the season in Dubai with a comfortable 31-12 win over Russia today.

The Australian side, who suffered a setback when captain Sharni Williams suffered an injury early on day two, were in ruthless form throughout and finished the competition with an unbeaten record.

They came up against a confident Russian side, who stunned defending champions New Zealand with a shock win yesterday, in the final but were able to run in five tries to secure the title in commanding fashion.

“That was an epic final and to play in front of such a crowd in Dubai was absolutely sensational," said Shannon Parry.

“We've put a lot of hard work into pre-season and I was really proud of our performance.

“I'm looking forward to the next round [in Brazil] and then onwards towards Rio [2016].”

Russia reached the final by virtue of a 15-12 victory over England in the last four ©World Rugby

England sealed third place after they clinched a golden points win over France following a thrilling yet low-scoring contest which had finished 5-5 after normal time.

England had edged ahead but a late score from Camille Grassineau swung the match in favour of the French, who could have claimed a dramatic victory had Christelle Le Duff’s conversion been successful.

Her effort fell short of the posts, however, sending the third-place play-off into an extra period, during which England peppered their opponents with attacks and eventually, Heather Fisher broke through and crossed over to hand her side a late success.

The plate final between Canada and New Zealand, two teams who many thought might be contesting the main prize, also went to golden points as Gayle Broughton danced through the Canadian defence to score the crucial try in a 24-19 triumph.

Earlier on in the day, Australia had got the better of arch-rivals New Zealand in the last eight as they emerged with a 15-12 victory, before they swept aside France 26-0 in their semi-final encounter.

Russia, meanwhile, had begun in ominous style, dispatching Spain 24-0 in the quarter-finals, setting up a meeting with England in the last four.

Extra-time beckoned with the score at 12-12 until Baizat Khamidova’s perfect offload allowed Marina Petrova to send her side through to the final with a late try.

Japan won the bowl competition as they beat Brazil 13-0.