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PARIS 7s: Scotland stun the BlitzBoks

Paris Sevens began with a bang as the 2016 Cup winners Samoa defeated Olympic champions Fiji with a narrow 19-17 win, and Scotland stunned the Blitzboks with a 19-12 win in Round one.

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Meanwhile, in Pool C normality was restored as  England outplayed Spain in Pool C with a 31-0 win and New Zealand marched to a 26-7 win over Wales in Pool B.

All the Round One results:

Pool A

South Africa 12-19 Scotland

The Blitzboks opened the scoring through a try by captain Philip Snyman, but Scotland hit back with tries by Jamie Farndale and Hugh Blake, while Scott Wight added a conversion as the sides heading for the break.

Wight added a try in the second-half and converted his five-pointer to stretch Scotland's lead.

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Siviwe Soyizwapi scored a late try which was converted by Cecil Afrika, but it was not enough to deny the Scots a famous win.

Canada 21-7 Japan

A brace of tries by  Harry Jones helped guide Canada to an opening win in Paris.

After a sloppy start from both teams that saw multiple handling errors, Canada managed to strike first as Nathan Hirayama and Harry Jones connected on a grubber kick.

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With a 7-0 lead, Canada grabbed a second try just before the break as Jones managed to stretch for the line for a 14-0 advantage.

Mike Fuailefau pushed the lead to 21-0 as he gathered in a John Moonlight pass who had a found a loose ball before Kameli Soejima prevented the shutout with a try right at the death.

Pool B

New Zealand 26-7 Wales

Wales scored their only try in the first minute of the match, after that New Zealand took hold of procceedings.

New Zealand scored a total of five tries, with two being scored in the first half which them a 14-7 lead at the break.

As the second half commenced the All Blacks were in full control and started rolling in the subs which worn down an alreeady deflated Wales side.

With one minute left on the clock, the All Blacks put the final nail in the coffin and round of their five-try festival with an amazng try.

United States 26-19 Argentina

Argentina, coming off of its worst circuit leg in two years, capitalized on an early United States turnover to take an initial lead in the first minute of the game.of  However United States hit back with two tries of their own. The World Rugby Sevens Series-leading try-scorer Perry Baker    Baker opened and they took a narrow 14-12 at the break.

Unites States got the second half underway in scintillating fashion as their added two additional tries to take a 26-12.

With 4 minutes on the clock Unites States were forced to defend as Argenitina tried to claw their way back itno the macth.  Argentina’s efforts got rewardes with a try but it proved to be little to late and their had to settle for a 19-26 defeat.

Pool C

France 20-14 Kenya

It proved to be an exhausting opening couple of minutes with full-on French pressure, but Kenya have silences the home crowd with a super score against the run of play. Frank Wanyama did cut inside and used the hand-off to surge to the line, while Samuel Oliech whipped over the extra two.

At the other end, Julien Candelon rolled back the years to get Les Bleus on the board, before Billy Odhiambo took advantage of some tired defensive legs to power over and leveled matters.  

With Samuel Oliech in the sin-bin, France added 12 points thanks to a brace by  Jean Pascal Barraque. And finally a moment of brilliance saw Virimi Vakatawa sent an offload out of the back of his hand and ran back up the field with a great supporting line to land the match-defining try.

England 31-0  Spain

Spain have eight debutants this weekend which meant plenty of new names to watch out for. England, meanwhile, threatened on the other side of the field, and eventually, Tom Bowen got the first try in the bruising battle. Bowen  had too much pace and exploited the holes in the Spanish defence.

England looked dangerous and added three tries to put Simon Amor's team firmly in control before the break.

Second half Spain, showed glimpses of what they are capable however england proved to powerfull and domninated much of the seocnd stanza to secure a comfortable win.  

Pool D

Fiji 17-19 Samoa

Fiji were first on the boards however a failed conversion meant they had to settle for a 5-0 lead.

Two minutes later Samoa hit back with a try of their own, Alosio Logotuli scored for the men in blue while a successful conversion handed them the lead.

However before the first stanza was completed Fiji were again on the board, with a  converted try which handed them a 12-7 lead at the break.

The second half started and it seemed that Fiji were settling in as they added another try to their tally.

Conceding inginetes Samoa and in te last 4 miniyes of the match they snatched the victory with two unanwered tries.

Australia Sevens 19-12  Russia

Vitaly Zhivatov put the first points of the game on the board for Russia as Australia were one man down with Nick Malouf off with a yellow card.

Just before the break, Liam McNamara scored Australia’s opening try with some great footwork and the score was all tied up on 7-7 at half-time.Russia came out strongly in the second half with Vladislav Sozonov going in for a second try.

But this was quickly answered by the Aussie captain James Stannard, leading by example, as he proved speed was not just for the young guns putting on the gas down the outside to get over the line.

With neither of the second half tries successfully converted the scoreboard was still locked up with less than a minute remaining in the match when Simon Kennewell showed great strength in pushing to the try line to give Australia the lead and seal the victory.

 

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