Sevens series moves on to Las Vegas
Mon, 08 Feb 2010 11:13
The New Zealand sevens team will look to bounce-back from their semi-final loss to Samoa in Wellington at the weekend, as the IRB Sevens world series turns its attention to Las Vegas.
Victories in both Dubai and George (South Africa) put the All Blacks in a strong position going into their home tournament in Wellington, where the hosts were humbled by Samoa 24-14 in their semi-final.
All Black coach Gordon Tietjens retains the same 12-man squad for the trip to the USA and won't want to return empty handed in consecutive tournaments.
"I think we played pretty well in this tournament up until now and it's just one of those shabby semi-finals," Tietjens told NZPA.
"We missed a couple of tackles and that was probably to the key for us yesterday (first day), the way we defended, so we're pretty disappointed in that.
"They broke us and they're very good in support as well. They matched us up front physically.
"They were always going to get up for New Zealand, they've done it in the past."
In the current IRB series the only team who have managed to beat New Zealand has been Samoa, who come out on top when the two sides met in the pool games in South Africa.
The Fijians will want to build on their momentum from the triumph in Wellington over Samoa in the final and put pressure on New Zealand who are now only four points clear of Fiji in the standings.
Fiji's captain Emosi Vucago, who scored in the win over Samoa, was pleased that the hard work put in by his side has started to pay off.
"We've sacrificed a lot. In Dubai and George we lost in the semi-finals and we went back to Fiji and trained hard," he said to NZPA.
"On New Year's eve we were in camp and that's why we've won the tournament today -- we're very proud."
International Rugby Board world sevens series standings after the third tournament finished in Wellington yesterday:
New Zealand 64, Fiji 60, Samoa 46, England 44, Australia 30, Kenya 28, South Africa 24, Argentina 22, Wales 12, Canada 6
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