With Ali Stafford and Amy Nicholson at the Guangzhou University Town Stadium.

It was an action-packed rugby weekend in Guangzhou with the Women’s Sevens World Series, which saw New Zealand finish on top of the standings.

A small but noisy group of die-hard rugby fans created an exciting atmosphere at Guangzhou University Town Stadium. The spectators cheered on every team and every try.

Seven’s rugby has been one of the 2010 Asian Games success stories, providing a legacy and a world-class 40,000-seat facility to attract international sporting events.

The storm, which wreaked havoc on day one, did nothing to dampen the mood. Despite unstable weather, it turned out to be an exciting weekend of rugby.

If Zengcheng, the event host for the sevens tournament, get their way, they aim to be the rugby capital of China.

World Seven’s final day

New Zealand was crowned champion of round three of the IRB women’s sevens after beating England 19-5 in the final in Guangzhou.

In front of a vocal crowd at the University Town Stadium, the All Blacks came from behind to take the title.

The result moves New Zealand eight points clear in the series standings with just one round to go, while England moved up to second spot ahead of Australia after the Wallabies could only manage a seventh place finish.

Host China narrowly missed out on silverware, as despite buoyant home support they were beaten 14-10 by rival Japan in the Bowl final.

Missing several players for the final due to injury, including captain Liu Yan, China fought back from being two converted tries down to within four points of evening the score but couldn’t find a match-winning breakthrough.

Winning captain Chiharu Nakamura said: “I’m extremely happy. China is our big rival, and if we are to get to be the best team in the world, we first need to be the best team in Asia, so this result was a big achievement for us.”

In the Plate competition, Ireland was the surprise winner in its first series event, as it stunned Australia in the semi-final before beating the Netherlands 14-10 in the final.

Earlier in the day, Australia suffered a shock exit at the quarter finals stage of the cup competition after they were dumped 17-14 by the United States. New Zealand and England progressed to the final four, as did Canada after they impressively thrashed Brazil 33-0.

Saturday results
1. 30 Mar 2013 – 10:00 England 24 – 5 China / Pool C
2. 30 Mar 2013 – 10:22 United States 15 – 0 Fiji / Pool C
3. 30 Mar 2013 – 10:44 New Zealand 29 – 0 Brazil / Pool A
4. 30 Mar 2013 – 11:06 Netherlands 47 – 0 Tunisia / Pool A
5. 30 Mar 2013 – 11:28 Australia 26 – 5 Japan / Pool B
6. 30 Mar 2013 – 11:50 Canada 33 – 5 Ireland / Pool B
7. 30 Mar 2013 – 12:22 England 24 – 10 Fiji / Pool C
8. 30 Mar 2013 – 12:44 United States 21 – 12 China / Pool C
9. 30 Mar 2013 – 13:06 New Zealand 53 – 0 Tunisia / Pool A
10. 30 Mar 2013 – 13:28 Netherlands 12 – 12 Brazil / Pool A
11. 30 Mar 2013 – 13:50 Australia 12 – 7 Ireland / Pool B
12. 30 Mar 2013 – 14:12 Canada 52 – 5 Japan / Pool B
13. 30 Mar 2013 – 15:04 England 19 – 0 United States / Pool C
14. 30 Mar 2013 – 15:26 China 15 – 10 Fiji / Pool C
15. 30 Mar 2013 – 15:48 New Zealand 20 – 5 Netherlands / Pool A
16. 30 Mar 2013 – 16:10 Brazil 24 – 0 Tunisia / Pool A
17. 30 Mar 2013 – 16:32 Australia 10 – 20 Canada / Pool B
18. 30 Mar 2013 – 16:54 Japan 0 – 33 Ireland / Pool B

Sunday results
19. 31 Mar 2013 – 10:00 New Zealand 31 – 5 Ireland / 2nd Best 3rd QF Cup
20. 31 Mar 2013 – 10:22 Australia 14 – 17 United States / 2nd Best 2nd QF Cup
21. 31 Mar 2013 – 10:44 England 21 – 14 Netherlands / 3rd Best 2nd QF Cup
22. 31 Mar 2013 – 11:06 Canada 33 – 0 Brazil / Best 3rd QF Cup
23. 31 Mar 2013 – 11:28 China 57 – 0 Tunisia / 3rd Best 4th SF Bowl
24. 31 Mar 2013 – 11:50 Fiji 5 – 12 Japan / 2nd Best 4th SF Bowl
25. 31 Mar 2013 – 13:06 Ireland 15 – 14 Australia / SF Plate
26. 31 Mar 2013 – 13:28 Netherlands 21 – 0 Brazil / SF Plate
27. 31 Mar 2013 – 13:50 New Zealand 24 – 12 United States / SF Cup
28. 31 Mar 2013 – 14:12 England 19 – 0 Canada / SF Cup
29. 31 Mar 2013 – 14:34 Tunisia 0 – 19 Fiji / 11th / 12th
30. 31 Mar 2013 – 14:56 China 10 – 14 Japan / Final Bowl
31. 31 Mar 2013 – 15:56 Australia 7 – 5 Brazil / 7th / 8th
32. 31 Mar 2013 – 16:18 Ireland 14 – 10 Netherlands / Final Plate
33. 31 Mar 2013 – 16:48 United States 5 – 17 Canada / 3rd / 4th
34. 31 Mar 2013 – 17:10 New Zealand 19 – 5 England / Final Cup

Pitchside interviews and photography by Danny Lee, James Sutton and Josh De-Kooker.