World Series Awards Hat-Trick For Outstanding Murphy Crowe

Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe capped an incredible season with three accolades at the HSBC Sevens Awards in Toulouse on Sunday night.

The ceremony was held at the Centre des Congrès in Toulouse following the final round of the HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series at the Stade Ernest Wallon.

The awards recognise and celebrate the players and teams who have performed at the highest level across this season’s World Series. 

Murphy Crowe, whose 36 tries this season helped the Ireland Women to their highest ever overall finish in the World Series, topped the try-scoring charts for the second time and landed a HSBC Dream Team place for 2021/22.

Women’s Sevens Series winners Australia had four players in the Dream Team line-up – Charlotte Caslick, Madison Ashby, Faith Nathan and Rookie of the Year Maddison Levi – with one apiece from Fiji (Reapi Ulunisau), France (Séraphine Okemba) and Ireland (Murphy Crowe).

Murphy Crowe played in 34 World Series games this season, the highest in the Ireland squad, and her 36 tries bring her Irish record total to 134 in 165 outings on the global stage.

The Tipperary speedster was also the Gilbert Top Try Scorer and earned Dream Team selection in 2019. This year she was the leading try scorer in both Seville and Langford and shared the honour at the season opener in Dubai.

2022 saw her set a new Irish record for a single World Series tournament with 12 tries in Langford, including hat-tricks against Japan and Brazil and four against France.

The 27-year-old winger gained Dream Team recognition in Seville, alongside Lucy Mulhall and Eve Higgins, and Langford as the Ireland Women won their first ever World Series medals. She also played in the TikTok Women’s Six Nations, scoring against Wales.

In addition, Murphy Crowe’s decisive quarter-final score against the USA in Langford was voted the Try of the Season, on the back of her being crowned the TritonLake Women’s Sevens Player of the Year at last week’s Rugby Players Ireland Awards.

Earlier in the day and despite closing out the campaign with two defeats, there was huge pride for the Ireland Women as they made more history with a fourth place finish in this season’s World Series.

Coached by Aiden McNulty and captained by Mulhall, they won a historic silver in Seville and backed it up with bronze in Langford, showing impressive consistency with top five finishes at each of the last four tournaments.

That strong run of results also saw Ireland named as the Capgemini Leaders of the Season, powered by the Momentum Tracker.

The award celebrates the teams that have upped their performance and climbed the rankings throughout the season. Results have been tracked throughout all the rounds, and the Ireland Women and Men have ranked first and second of the series respectively.

Click here for the full list of HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series award winners.

World Rugby Chairman Sir Bill Beaumont commented: “On behalf of World Rugby, I would like to congratulate all HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series award winners. The season that just ended was again spectacular and reminded us why Sevens is a truly unique and thrilling sport.

Its speed, skill and spectacular tries are capturing the hearts of fans worldwide and inspiring young girls around the world to pick up the oval ball.

“With a very promising Rugby World Cup Sevens in Cape Town in September and the Paris 2024 Olympics two years away, Sevens’ future looks bright.”

The awards ceremony for the Men’s Series will be held in Los Angeles after the final round in late August. The World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year awards (both men and women) will be presented at the annual World Rugby Awards ceremony in November.