World Cup awaits golden Aussie Sevens sisters

Maddison and Teagan Levi are back home in Broadbeach Waters soaking up some much-needed family time following their sensational gold medal winning performance in Birmingham.  

The sisters will enjoy a five day break before they return to their base in Sydney to begin training for the 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens in South Africa early next month.  

Maddi purposely didn’t bring her running shoes back to the Gold Coast to ensure she has a solid rest before preparations begin.  

“We’ll have three weeks of full-on training before we go away again,” said Maddi.  

“We do identify ourselves as the best running team so there will be lots of ‘crunning’ as we call it, crying and running, it gets the job done!  

“We joke about it but I guess it’s what gives us the edge over other teams.  

“New Zealand and Fiji are going to be gunning for us now, they definitely need their redemption story but if we stay on track we can win the World Cup as well and finish off an amazing year.” 

At the Commonwealth Games the Aussies were vindicated in the final against Fiji 22-12 after they lost to the island nation in their pool game.  

They booked their place in the decider after upsetting reigning champions New Zealand 17-12 in their semi.  

Maddison scored 10 tries across the tournament to equal the most number of points scored by the top male athlete. 

“To be able to showcase my talent on the world stage is pretty exciting and it was a highlight to score a hat-trick in two games over there,” said Maddi.  

“We all froze for a second after the final, we didn’t actually realise until we were standing on the podium that we had won gold.” 

They are not the only famous members in the family.  

Mum Rochelle’s appearance on Seven’s Sunrise program has gone viral after she happily declared she was already two bottles of champagne deep at 8 o’clock in the morning.  

“Not going to lie, it was a bit cringey,” Maddi said with a laugh.  

“But it just shows the raw emotion of the whole family. You always see how the athletes cope and how they celebrate but it’s not just an individual effort, the whole family is affected. Mum has ridden the highs and lows with us.” 

For Teagan, this was her first experience at a major international event.  

“The tempo of the footy is definitely faster, and the girls are definitely bigger and stronger.  

“It’s definitely a different standard to the AON Uni 7s Series [Bond University won in 2021] and school footy, the level of footy they play is awesome.  

“To finally be involved in that and have a run around is amazing,” Teagan said.  

The sisters and fellow Bond player Charlotte Caslick will bring their experience from Birmingham back to the Bull Sharks for the Queensland Club State Championships later this year.  

The Levi siblings credit their range of skills to the after-school activities they were exposed to growing up, from dancing for balance to Aussie Rules for hand-eye coordination.  

Their manager Mat Rogers, a former dual international, said he had ‘tears in his eyes’ watching Maddison and Teagan come out on top. 

“I know the Commonwealth Games are not the Olympics, but in Rugby 7s, the top teams in the world play in the Comm Games,” he said.  

He is now in charge of guiding the sister’s future which could involve a return to AFLW (the sisters were previously signed to the Gold Coast Suns) or a shift to NRLW. 

“We’re not going to be silly and make a straight up decision now. When the dust settles after the World Cup we’ll sit down and work out what the future holds. 

“I’m super proud of their work ethic and humility and how amazing they’re going,” Rogers said.