IRB Sevens: Scotland, Day One
Sat, 31 May 2008 08:05
International Rugby Board (IRB) Sevens World Series champions New Zealand have gone unbeaten on day one, while in the 'group of death' host Scotland survived the toughest of challenges on Day One to make it through to a Cup quarterfinal against the Kiwis.
The Scots scraped through their pool by beating Australia, losing at the death against South Africa and drawing with Argentina, while fellow Six Nations sides Wales, England and France also made the last eight along with Fiji, Samoa and the South Africans.
South Africa started with a draw against the Pumas, before Scotland beat Australia convincingly but Stefan Basson's long range penalty drop-goal at the death handed the Boks a 22-21 win against the Scots.
Behind confirmed Series champions New Zealand the race is on for second place in the final standings between South Africa (98 points), Fiji (90) and London winners Samoa (88).
Quarter final line-up:
New Zealand v Scotland
Fiji v Samoa
Wales v France
South Africa v England
We take a look at all the Day One action!
Pool A:
(New Zealand, England, Russia, Portugal)
New Zealand's newlook squad finished unbeaten on day one, starting in clinical fashion against Russia with newcomers Ben Nowell and David Smith both touching down for two tries in a 43-0 win, before Gordon Tietjens' men saw off Portugal 28-0 and came from behind to beat England 21-12 with debutant Tim Mikkelson crossing for the decisive score.
England also qualified for the Cup quarterfinals, on points difference over Russia. Ben Ryan's men kicked off their campaign with a win, Uche Oduoza grabbing two tries against Portugal, before struggling to a lucky 17-17 draw against Russia - Yury Kushnarev narrowly missed his conversion to win for Russia - and losing against New Zealand. Russia earlier beat Portugal 19-12 in a fine match to finish third in the pool.
Results:
Match 1: New Zealand 45 - Russia 0
Match 2: England 22 - Portugal 0
Match 9: New Zealand 28 - Portugal 0
Match 10: England 17 - Russia 17
Match 17: Russia 19 - Portuga 12
Match 20: New Zealand 21 - England 12
Pool B:
(South Africa, Australia, Argentina, Scotland)
Having beaten hosts Scotland with the last kick of the match, South Africa went on to top the 'group of death' by beating Australia 17-12. Danwel Demas scored twice for the Boks and Stefan Basson once as they built a 17-12 lead in their final match and then held on as Australia hit back through Andrew Walker and Shawn MacKay.
Scotland also proceed to the Cup quarterfinals on day two after drawing their final match 17-17 against the feisty Argentinians, who had two players yellow-carded and one sent off during a tense second half.
Earlier Santiago Gomez Cora touched down twice as the Pumas overturned a 19-0 deficit to fight back against the Boks, and South Africa then looked dead and buried against Scotland, 19-21 down with the final hooter gone, before Stefan Basson nervelessly landed a penalty drop-goal from the 10-metre line to crush the Scots and hand the Boks a priceless 22-21 win.
The Scots had opened their account with a 33-7 over Australia, Jim Thompson the star with a brace of tries, before Argentina played out their thrilling 19-19 draw with the Boks.
In scoring four tries in the day, Puma Santiago Gomez Cora moved to 196, the leading mark all time in Sevens rugby, just four short of reaching a remarkable landmark on the final day of the season.
Results:
Match 7: South Africa 19 - Argentina 19
Match
8: Australia 7 - Scotland 33
Match 15: South Africa 22 - Scotland 21
Match 16: Australia 19 - Argentina 12
Match 23: South Africa 17 - Australia 12
Match 24: Argentina 17 - Scotland 17
Pool C:
(Samoa, Wales, Canada, Spain)
Wales topped Pool C after beating London Sevens champions of last week Samoa 24-14 in the group's final match, Tal Selley touching down twice for Gareth Baber's men. Tries from James Lewis had helped them to two opening wins against Spain and Canada.
Samoa earlier needed all of their fighting qualities to see off first Canada 24-17 in their opening match and then Spain 24-5 to also qualify for the Cup quarters on day two. Alatasi Tupou scored a hat-trick of tries for the islanders in their opener and Timoteo Iosua crossed twice in their win against gallant Spain.
Spain capped off an impressive day by beating Series regulars Canada 24-10 to get a favourable draw for the Bowl on day two.
Results:
Match 3: Samoa 24 - Canada 17
Match 4: Wales 31 - Spain 7
Match 11: Samoa 24 - Spain 5
Match 12: Wales 24 - Canada 7
Match 18: Canada 10 - Spain 24
Match 21: Samoa 14 - Wales 24
Pool D:
(Fiji, Kenya, France, Moldova)
Fiji went unbeaten on day one with three relatively two easy wins against France, Moldova and Kenya. The Fijians ran riot against France, Setefano Cakau scoring two of their six tries in a 42-7 win before they scored eight more against Moldova, Iliavi Satala and Timoci Matanavou each scoring a brace and were then far too strong for the Africans, Matanavou again impressive.
In beating the Kenyans, Fiji also sent France through to a first Cup quarter final of the season. The French earlier beat Kenya, Vincent Roux's late try sealing the French win and also ran in seven unanswered tries against Moldova, Nicolas Carmona scoring a hat-trick in the 47-0 win.
Results:
Match 5: Fiji 42 - France 7
Match 6: Kenya 22 - Moldova 5
Match 13: Fiji 52 - Moldova 7
Match 14: Kenya 12 - France 22
Match 19: France 47 - Moldova 0
Match 22: Fiji 38 - Kenya 7
Day Two - June 1:
Bowl quarterfinals:
Match 25: Russia v Argentina, 10.15
Match 26: Kenya v Canada, 10.37
Match 27: Spain v Moldova, 10.59
Match 28: Australia v Portugal, 11.21
Cup quarterfinals:
Match 29: New Zealand v Scotland, 11.43
Match 30: Fiji v Samoa, 12.05
Match 31: Wales v France, 12.27
Match 32: South
Africa v England, 12.49
Shield semifinals:
Match 33: Loser M25 v Loser M26, 13.41
Match 34: Loser M27 v Loser M28, 14.03
Bowl semifinals:
Match 35: Winner M25 v Winner M26, 14.25
Match 36: Winner M27 v Winner M28, 14.47
Plate semifinals:
Match 37: Loser M29 v Loser M30, 15.09
Match 38: Loser M31 v Loser M32, 15.31
Cup semifinals:
Match 39: Winner M29 v Winner M30, 16.08
Match 40: Winner M31 v Winner M32, 16.30
Shield Final:
Match 41: Winner M33 v Winner M34, 16.52
Bowl Final:
Match 42: Winner M35 v Winner M36, 17.20
Plate Final:
Match 43: Winner M37 v Winner M38, 17.48
Cup Final:
Match 44: Winner M39 v Winner M40, 18.16
With thanks to the IRB
