Samoa are the true champions
Sun, 30 May 2010 13:42
Samoa have won their first IRB Sevens World Series title, after they smashed a willing Australia 41-14 in the Cup Final in final leg in Edinburgh on Sunday.
Unlike their semifinal win over England - when they required a dramatic Lolo Lui drop-goal after the final hooter, in a 10-minute period of extra time - they outscored the Aussies by five tries to two.
It was a Mikaele Pesamino that sent them on their way and confirmed their ultimate superiority - not just in this tournament, but also the series.
They had already sealed the series when they advanced to the Final and New Zealand lost to the Aussies in the other semifinal.
Samoa produced a ruthless championship performance to overcome Australia in the final and further underline their World Series title credentials.
In producing one of their most disciplined displays of the season, the extended their final points tally for the season to 164, 15 clear of New Zealand in second place.
After their superb end of the season run, Australia finished third with 122 ahead of Fiji (108), England (96) and South Africa (80).
In coach Stephen Gemmell's final World Series event, Scotland produced a superb performance to thrill the home crowd and claim the Plate and their first Series points of the season with victory against Argentina. Wales beat Kenya to take the Bowl and Russia took the Shield.
All the latest from the final day of the IRB Sevens World Series 2009/10 at Murrayfield.
Cup Final:
Jacob Taylor's try gave Australia the lead after just 15 seconds of the Cup final but Samoa, visibly exhausted following their 27-minute semi final against England, rallied to produce one final swansong.
The season's top scorer Mikaele Pesamino grabbed one back and Reupena Levasa and Uale Mai also scored to give them a 17-7 half time lead.
Outstanding Australia captain James Stannard pulled one back after the break but again it was Pesamino who restored the lead. Fautua Otto grabbed a quickfire brace to put the match and the Edinburgh title beyond doubt and then Pesamino rounded off a season of extraordinary personal achievement by sealing his hat trick and the 41-14 win, to take his own tally for the season to 56.
Result:
Match 44: Samoa 41-14 Australia
Plate Final:
Scotland thrilled the home Murrayfield crowd by following up their strong day one performance with victory in the Plate against Argentina, 19-0.
Having lost against England in the Cup quarters, the hosts recovered brilliantly and fired the crowd with their slick passing game, first overcoming outgoing World Series champions South Africa and then Argentina in a fine final with tries by Andrew Turnbull, Colin Shaw and Ben Cairns. A fitting end to coach Stephen Gemmell's World Series career.
Result:
Match 43: Scotland
19-0 Argentina
Bowl Final:
Wales beat first Canada and then France to reach the final of the Bowl, where they had to come from behind to beat Kenya 26-10.
Twice Kenya took the lead through captain Humphrey Kayange but the Welsh responded with tries from Lloyd Williams before the break and then Craig Hill, Rhys Webb and Rhys Jones in the second half to power to victory.
Result:
Match 42: Wales 26-10 Kenya
Shield Final:
Two tries by Igor Galinovskiy and one apiece for Vladimir Ostroushko and Roman Timofeev were enough to fire Russia to a fine win 26-7 against Canada in the final of the Shield.
Result:
Match 41: Canada 7-26 Russia
Cup semifinals:
Samoa beat England 15-12 with a drop-goal penalty by their captain Lolo Lui, after the hooter had signalled that extra time was over, to win a heart-stopping semi final match and land the IRB Sevens World Series title.
Afa Aiono put the Samoans ahead, but Tom Powell levelled up after the break. Mikaele Pesamino looked to have given the Samoans the win and the Series, but Greg Barden scored to level it up. Ben Gollings missed the conversion and the game went into extra time.
As the tension mounted Lolo Lui missed with a long range drop-goal and England withstood concerted Samoan pressure. Not until the last second of extra time did Samoa work a position where Lolo Lui was able to opt for a penalty drop-goal, which he cooly slotted to land Samoa their first ever World Series crown.
In the other side of the draw James Stannard was again at his best as Australia came from behind to beat Fiji. New Zealand were then hugely impressive in seeing off spirited Argentina 26-0.
As a result of their win, Australia are guaranteed to finish third in this year's World Series.
Results:
Match 39: Samoa 15-12 England
(after extra time-12-all normal time)
Match 40: Australia 24-19 New Zealand
Plate semifinals:
Scotland thrilled the crowd by overcoming outgoing World Series champions South Africa to reach the final of the Plate.
They will play Argentina, who produced a late score to edge Fiji 19-17 in dramatic fashion.
Results:
Match 37: South Africa 14-19 Scotland
Match 38: Fiji 17-19 Argentina
Bowl semifinals:
Wales beat first Canada and then France to reach the final of the Bowl. Kenya won through to the final by winning their first two matches on day two, against Russia and USA.
Results:
Match 35: France 12-26 Wales
Match 36: United States 12-17 Kenya
Shield semifinals:
After an opening loss on day two Canada won through to the final of the Shield with a 35-0 win against Italy. Russia won through to the final with a dominant display against Portugal.
Results:
Match 33: Italy 0-35 Canada
Match 34: Portugal 0-17 Russia
Cup quarterfinals:
Samoa put in a much better performance on day two to beat South Africa 19-0 and put themselves one win away from a first World Series title. Nick Royle broke Scottish hearts by helping England come from behind to beat the hosts.
In the other side of the draw James Stannard was again at his best as Australia came from behind to beat Fiji. New Zealand were then hugely impressive in seeing off spirited Argentina 26-0.
Results:
Match 30: Scotland 7-19 England
Match 29: Samoa 19-0 South Africa
Match 31: Australia 15-7 Fiji
Match 32: New Zealand 26-0 Argentina
Bowl quarterfinals:
Having won two of their games yesterday, including a good performance to beat Argentina, France will count themselves as unlucky to be contesting the Bowl, where they beat Italy to reach the semis. They now play Wales, who beat Canada.
Kenya also drop to the second tier for the second week running to play Russia. USA play Portugal and Wales face Canada.
Results:
Match 28: Russia 0-12 Kenya
Match 27: Portugal 21-26 United States
Match 26: Wales 21-14 Canada
Match 25: France 19-5 Italy
With thanks to the IRB
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