IRB 7s: Portugal in London quarters
Sat, 24 May 2008 12:00
Portugal have reached the Cup quarterfinals, alongside the world's top nations, at the London leg of the International Rugby Board (IRB) Sevens World Series on Saturday.
The Portuguese caused an early upset on Day One at Twickenham by beating Australia 28-12 and, although they lost against Fiji, they ground out a win against Canada and then watched on as Fiji beat the Australians to assure them of a place in the last eight.
Defending London and Series champions New Zealand were far from convincing, edging past Argentina with a last-gasp try and conceding two tries in their win against Moldova, before putting in a stronger performance to beat Wales 24-0.
The Kiwis now need only one more win to guarantee the defence of their Series crown, although the defence of their London title looks far more difficult.
South Africa have looked the strongest of the sides on Day One - Gio Aplon, Fabian Juries and Danwel Demas all impressing for Paul Treu's Springboks.
Cup quarter final line-up:
New Zealand v England
Samoa v Portugal
Fiji v Scotland
South Africa v Argentina
We look at all the Day One action!
Pool A:
(New Zealand, Wales, Argentina, Moldova)
New Zealand needed a late try from Tomasi Cama to avoid defeat against Argentina in the opening match, capitalising on the sin-binning of Santiago Gomez Cora to sneak home 10-7. Wales were more convincing winners in their first match, Martin Roberts scoring a hat-trick in their 52-7 defeat of IRB Sevens World Series debutants Moldova.
The defending champions might have been expected to run in the tries against Moldova in their second match, but the newcomers left the pitch to huge cheers after touching down twice in a 38-14 defeat. Argentina then scored a late try through Tomas Passerotti to draw 21-21 with Wales in an end to end encounter.
Argentina finished their day one campaign with a seven-try 43-7 defeat of Moldova, but will have to wait for the outcome of the New Zealand-Wales match to see whether they have done enough to reach the Cup quarterfinals on Sunday.
Results:
Match 1: New Zealand 10 - Argentina 7
Match 2: Wales 57 - Moldova 7
Match 9: New Zealand 38 - Moldova 14
Match 10: Wales 21 - Argentina 21
Match 17: Argentina 43 - Moldova 7
Match 21: New Zealand 24 - Wales 0
Pool B:
(South Africa, England, France, Spain)
South Africa signalled their intentions to claim back to back IRB Sevens World Series titles -after winning in Adelaide - with an impressive 40-0 defeat of France in their opening match in London, Danwel Demas and Schalk van der Merwe both scoring two tries. England then delighted the home fans with a 29-7 defeat of Spain with Tom Biggs claiming a hat-trick of tries.
Gio Aplon claimed a hat-trick of tries in another impressive performance from South Africa against Spain in a 42-5 victory. However, their biggest test of the day came against home side England, who beat France 33-5 with Ben Foden among their try scorers.
France picked up their first win with a 31-5 defeat of Spain, a match which saw Vincent Roux score the 20,000th try in IRB Sevens history.
Then the pool decider, where England led South Africa 7-5 at half-time, before tries from Aplon, MJ Mentz and Kabamba Floors saw the Boks triumph 22-7 and so avoid a quarterfinal encounter with New Zealand.
Results:
Match 7: South Africa 40 - France 0
Match 8: England 29 - Spain 7
Match 15: South Africa 42 - Spain 5
Match 16: England 37 - France 5
Match 20: France 31 - Spain 5
Match 24: South Africa 22 - England 7
Pool C:
(Fiji, Australia, Canada, Portugal)
Emosi Vucago scored two of Fiji's five tries as they got off to a winning start by beating Canada 29-5, but it was Portugal who caused the first upset of the London Sevens with their 28-12 defeat of Australia. The score had been 7-5 before three unanswered tries saw Portugal pull clear.
Fiji made it two wins out of two with a 39-0 defeat of Portugal, Seremaia Burotu scoring four of their seven tries. Australia then bounced back from their surprise opening loss to Portugal with a 38-5 victory over Canada to keep alive hopes of reaching the Cup quarterfinals.
Portugal let slip a 12-0 lead to two Nanyak Dala tries for Canada, but a try from Antonio Pinto saw them claim a 17-14 victory to inch towards the Cup quarterfinals. Fiji also led 12-0 against Australia, but tries from Scott Higginbotham and Shawn MacKay brought them to within two points at the death as Andrew Walker's touchline conversion drifted across the posts.
Results:
Match 3: Fiji 29 - Canada 5
Match 4: Australia 12 - Portugal 28
Match 11: Fiji 39 - Portugal 0
Match 12: Australia 38 - Canada 5
Match 18: Canada 14 - Portugal 17
Match 22: Fiji 12 - Australia 10
Pool D:
(Samoa, Kenya, Russia, Scotland)
Samoa's quest for their first title of the season started with a 33-10 defeat of Russia, Reupena Levasa scoring two of their five tries. A late try from Richie Vernon then made certain of a 17-5 victory for Scotland against the well-supported Kenyans.
Two tries apiece from Alafoti Fa'osiliva and Timoteo Iosua ensured Samoa remained unbeaten with a 31-12 defeat of Scotland, before Russia showed the strides they are making by upsetting Series core member Kenya 17-7 with Evgeniy Matveev touching down for two of their three tries.
That victory meant the Scotland-Russia affair was a win or bust encounter, the Scots claiming the Cup quarterfinal berth as runners up with a 31-7 victory. Roared on by their vocal supporters, Kenya tried to end Day One with a win, but tries from Levasa and Uale Mai helped Samoa run out 28-10 winners.
Fixtures/results:
Match 5: Samoa 33 - Russia 10
Match 6: Kenya 5 - Scotland 17
Match 13: Samoa 31 - Scotland 12
Match 14: Kenya 7 - Russia 17
Match 19: Russia 7 - Scotland 31
Match 23: Samoa 28 - Kenya 10
Day 2 - May 25:
Bowl quarterfinals:
Match 25: Wales v Spain, 11.00
Match 26: Russia v
Canada, 11.22
Match 27: Australia v Kenya, 11.44
Match 28: France v Moldova, 12.06
Cup quarterfinals:
Match 29: New Zealand v England, 12.28
Match 30: Samoa v Portugal, 12.50
Match 31: Fiji v Scotland, 13.12
Match 32: South Africa v Argentina, 13.34
Shield semifinals:
Match 33: Loser M25 v Loser M26, 14.06
Match 34: Loser M27 v Loser M28, 14.28
Bowl semifinals:
Match 35: Winner M25 v Winner M26, 14.50
Match 36: Winner M27 v Winner M28, 15.12
Plate semifinals:
Match 37: Loser M29 v Loser M30, 15.34
Match 38: Loser M31 v Loser M32, 15.56
Cup semifinals:
Match 39: Winner M29 v Winner M30, 16.44
Match 40: Winner M31 v Winner M32, 17.06
Shield Final:
Match 41: Winner M33 v Winner M34, 17.28
Bowl Final:
Match 42: Winner M35 v Winner
M36, 17.56
Plate Final:
Match 43: Winner M37 v Winner M38, 18.24
Cup Final:
Match 44: Winner M39 v Winner M40, 18.52
With thanks to the IRB
