Sevens great Caslick hails Perth win as among her best

Australian rugby sevens great Charlotte Caslick has rated the team’s gritty win at the Perth event as one of the best moments of her stellar career.

A thrilling 28-26 win over New Zealand In the final on Sunday gave Australia their second triumph in three World Series events and moved them to within two points of the ladder-leading Kiwis.

Their win was even more meritorious given major strike weapons, world sevens player of the year Maddison Levi and Faith Nathan, were unavailable for the two matches on Sunday.

Levi, who had scored nine tries in Australia’s first four wins, including two hat-tricks, broke a thumb while Nathan failed an HIA.

Australia also had Madison Ashby and Bienne Terita unavailable for the tournament.

The squad contained five players 21 or under and, with the superstars absent, some of the younger members stood up.

Heidi Dennis,19, followed up a try in the 24-17 semi-final win over Canada with two in the final, earning her player-of-the-match honours.

“I think today in particular showcased the depth we have within our squad, girls like Heidi stepping up.” Caslick said.

“Mackenzie Davies got a lot of minutes there as well and we just seem to be able to roll them out throughout our squad and they play as good as the girls front of them, which is so good.”