IRB Sevens: Samoa take the spoils
Sun, 14 Feb 2010 00:00
Samoa produced a superb display to beat New Zealand 33-12 in the Final of the 2010 USA Sevens in Las Vegas, the fourth event in the 2009/10 IRB Sevens World Series.
In winning what is only their fourth ever in the 11-year history of the IRB Sevens World Series, Samoa overtook Fiji to go second behind New Zealand in the 2009/10 standings.
The Kiwis, who saw their lead being cut to just four points in Wellington last week, stretched it out to 14 points after Fiji dropped out in the quarterfinals. New Zealand are now on 84, followed by Samoa (70), Fiji (68), England (50), Australia (46), Kenya (44) and South Africa (36).
Earlier, New Zealand beat Kenya 21-7 to reach their third Cup final of the season in Vegas.
Samoa then came from behind to beat inspired Australia 14-12 and book a place in their second consecutive Cup final.
Australia earlier produced the first upset of the day by beating Wellington champions Fiji to reach their first Cup semi final for two years.
New Zealand won through to the Cup semis with a tight 12-5 victory against reigning World Series champions South Africa.
Kenya sent their 1,500 travelling fans into raptures by pulling level with England on the final hooter and then scoring first in sudden-death extra time to win through.
Samoa then produced a superb display against Wales, Alafoti Fa'osiliva inspiring them to come from behind and win through in the lower half of the draw.
Defending IRB champions South Africa went one step further than the three previous legs when they won the Plate title - having been losing Plate finalists in Dubai, George and Wellington.
The host, the United States Eagles, gave the crowd plenty to cheer about when they took the Bowl competition and Scotland won the Shield.
All the latest on Day Two at Las Vegas!
Bowl quarterfinals:
France, Chile, Argentina and the United States have all scored opening victories to make it through to the Bowl semis - Japan, Canada, Scotland and Guyana drop to the Shield.
Results:
Match 28: United States 33-12 Guyana
Match 27: Scotland 7-14 Argentina
Match 26: Japan 7-19 Chile
Match 25: France 19-12 Canada
Cup quarterfinals:
New Zealand, as was expected, were too good for rivals South Africa and recorded a 12-5 win. Kenya scored a sudden-death extra-time try to wedge England 26-21. Samoa were also made to work for their 17-10 win over Wales, but it was the error-riddled Fijian team that crashed to an inspired Aussie team 7-28.
Michael O'Connor's young side played a superb match of physical intensity and looked after the ball well to restrict Fijian possession and take their chances. Bernard Foley's two tries in the first half set them well on their way and with Kimami Situati and skipper Pat McCutcheon put in star performances as they stretched out to a fine 28-5 win.
New Zealand won through to the Cup semis with a tight 12-5 victory against reigning World Series champions South Africa.
Kenya sent their 1,500 travelling fans into raptures by pulling level with England on the final hooter and then scoring first in sudden-death extra time to win through.
Samoa then produced a superb display against Wales, Alafoti Fa'osiliva inspiring them to come from behind and win through in the lower half of the draw.
Fiji, South Africa, England and Wales will contest the Plate competition.
Results:
Match 29: New Zealand 12-5 South Africa
Match 30: England 21-26 Kenya (Extra Time - full-time score 21-21)
Match 31: Samoa 17-10 Wales
Match 32: Fiji 7-28 Australia
Shield semifinals:
Kenji Shomen, who also added a conversion, Masahiro Tsuiki and Kaoru Matsushita scored tries as Japan overpowered Canada, who had a very forgetful tournament. Scotland were simply too strong for the inexperienced Caribbean team, Guyana, with David Tait, Craig Jackson, Colin Shaw, Chris Kinloch and Lee Jones sharing the tries.
Results:
Match 33: Canada 5-17 Japan
Match 34: Scotland 31-7 Guyana
Bowl semifinals:
The Americans won a physical semifinal against last year's USA Sevens Cup champions Argentina. France overwhelmed Chile in the other.
Results:
Match 35: France 45-7 Chile
Match 36: Argentina 14-19 United States
Plate semifinals:
South Africa were too strong for England, Kyle Brown and Steven Hunt scoring tries in their semifinal win, and Fiji beat Wales.
Results:
Match 37: South Africa 27-14 England
Match 38: Wales 0-32 Fiji
Cup semifinals:
New Zealand had reached their third Cup final of the season with a 21-7 victory over Kenya, while Samoa rallied to beat Australia 14-12.
Results:
Match 39: New Zealand 21-7 Kenya
Match 40: Samoa 14-12 Australia
Shield Final:
Scotland finished a disappointing tournament on a high note, beating Japan to win the Shield trophy.
Result:
Match 41: Japan 7-17 Scotland
Bowl Final:
The USA side delighted their home fans by winning the Bowl final against France. Matt Hawkins was again outstanding, scoring two more tries to add to his brace in the semifinal.
Result:
Match 42: France 17-28 United States
Plate Final:
Reigning World Series champions South Africa enjoyed their best return from a tournament this season, beating Fiji 12-7 to take the Las Vegas Plate title.
Cecil Afrika and Frankie Horne both scored tries in the first half and, although the Fijians pulled one back, the Boks' new-found confidence told as they held on.
Result:
Match 43: South Africa 12-7 Fiji
Cup Final:
Samoa delivered a superb performance to beat New Zealand 33-12 in the Final, with Mikaele Pesamino again at his try-poaching best - scoring two more tries in the final to take his personal tally to 11 for the tournament, while outstanding forward Alafoti Fa'osiliva crossed for seven over the two days and was also named Player of the Tournament.
Samoa had knocked New Zealand out of the semifinals of their home tournament in Wellington last weekend, when they went on to finish runner-up to Fiji.
Samoa never trailed, leading 14-7 at half-time after tries from Alafoti Fa'osiliva and Pesamino.
Kurt Baker scored New Zealand's only try in the first half.
Fa'osiliva added a second try to open the second-half scoring, before Tim Mickkelson scored an uncoverted try to keep New Zealand in touch.
Rupena Levasa's try with three minutes to go gave Samoa a comfortable lead, before Pesamino added one more for good measure.
Results:
Match 44: New Zealand 12-33 Samoa
With thanks to the IRB
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