Fiji strike Wellington 7s gold!
by Paki's Corner | 08 February 2010 (05:47)
A sold out Wespac Stadium was treated to another scintillating weekend of international sevens rugby as Fiji made a comeback in the Series by capturing the 2009/2010 NZI Sevens title!
Day 1’s action heralded four unbeaten teams through New Zealand (Pool A), Fiji (Pool B), England (Pool C) and Samoa (Pool D). The home side had to fight all the way in their pool clash with the Springboks, winning 19-7, much to the delight of the crowds. Fiji washed away the competition in Pool B including a 38-14 victory over Australia with a welcome return and 14-point contribution from exciting Fijian finisher William Ryder.
England found themselves in a very tough pool, and just managed to beat Tonga 24-19 to top Pool C. Standouts for England were IRB sevens top points scorer Ben Gollings and South African born winger Mat Turner.
Canada was the surprise team in Wellington, opening up with a famous 26-7 victory over Argentina, and followed that with a 21-19 win over France. The Canadians – who were replaced by the USA as a ‘core’ team on the circuit – made the Cup quarterfinals and in so doing earned 6 valuable IRB points. Their coach, Morgan Williams, played on the IRB World Sevens Series until recently and a lot of people will watch with interest to see if his team can repeat this form in Las Vegas.
The second day at a sevens tournament brings with it the added pressure of the knockout stages.
New Zealand’s anchorman Zar Lawrence and speedster Sherwin Stowers both scored tries in their Cup quarterfinal 24-12 win over neighbours Australia.
England took out Canada 31-0 with Gollings putting adding 16 points and Turner bagging two tries.
Samoa continued their form with a nail biting 14-12 win over Kenya. Lolo Lui scored all of his team’s points against a Kenyan team that will be looking to improve their level of play next week.
Fijian general Emosi Vucago dictated play to end South Africa’s hopes of proceeding with a fine 21-5 display.
The Cup semifinals were a frenzy of excitement until Samoan legend Uale Mai produced an MVP performance scoring a hat-rick of tries. Flyer Mikaele Pesamino put the nail in the coffin with an unbelievable intercept try, seeing off the Dubai and George champions New Zealand, 24-14.
The England vs. Fiji encounter was another thriller with the pacific islanders coming through 28-19 thanks to some storming runs from their big forwards.
This setup a bruising final between Samoa and Fiji. Tied at 7-7 after the break, Fiji scored two tries to lead 19-7 with minutes remaining. But winger Pesamino responded by scoring his second try and it looked like a famous full-time win for the Samoans. However titanic defense saw the sevens legends of Fiji hold out 19-14 for the NZI Wellington title!
It was the first trophy at Westpac’s Cake Tin for the Fijians since 2005. In the other sections Australia stormed to a Plate title beating South Africa 26-22 thanks to a last minute Clinton Sills try.
Wales defeated France 7-5 in a very low scoring Bowl final, taking 4 IRB points from the tournament.
The USA came back from a tough Day 1 to beat Scotland 19-12, and finished on a high note thanks to a superb 17-14 comeback against Tonga to claim the Shield trophy. Matt Hawkins, Nick Edwards and Paul Emerick scored for the Americans in their final.
The entire NZI Wellington Sevens tournament was another massive success - both on and off the field!
All eyes are now turning to the city of Las Vegas which hosts the 4th leg of the IRB World Sevens Series this weekend (February 13 & 14).
Stay tuned as I head out to catch all the action this weekend for RugbyZone – LIVE from Las Vegas! A preview for this exciting tournament will be out mid-week.
Wellington IRB 7s Results Day 2
44 06-02-2010 21:00 SAMOA 14 - 19 FIJI Final Cup
43 06-02-2010 20:30 AUSTRALIA 26 - 22 SOUTH AFRICA Final Plate
42 06-02-2010 20:00 WALES 7 - 5 FRANCE Final Bowl
41 06-02-2010 19:30 TONGA 14 - 17 UNITED STATES Final Shield
40 06-02-2010 19:00 ENGLAND 19 - 28 FIJI SF Cup
39 06-02-2010 18:35 NEW ZEALAND 14 - 24 SAMOA SF Cup
38 06-02-2010 18:00 CANADA 5 - 29 SOUTH AFRICA SF Plate
37 06-02-2010 17:38 AUSTRALIA 26 - 17 KENYA SF Plate
36 06-02-2010 17:16 FRANCE 28 - 12 NIUE SF Bowl
35 06-02-2010 16:54 WALES 17 - 12 ARGENTINA SF Bowl
34 06-02-2010 16:32 UNITED STATES 19 - 12 SCOTLAND SF Shield
33 06-02-2010 16:10 PAPUA NEW GUINEA 10 - 26 TONGA SF Shield
32 06-02-2010 15:39 FIJI 21 - 5 SOUTH AFRICA 1/4 final Cup
31 06-02-2010 15:17 ENGLAND 31 - 0 CANADA 1/4 final Cup
30 06-02-2010 14:55 SAMOA 14 - 12 KENYA 1/4 final Cup
29 06-02-2010 14:33 NEW ZEALAND 24 - 12 AUSTRALIA 1/4 final Cup
28 06-02-2010 14:06 SCOTLAND 12 - 17 NIUE 1/4 final Bowl
27 06-02-2010 13:44 UNITED STATES 10 - 21 FRANCE 1/4 final Bowl
26 06-02-2010 13:22 ARGENTINA 17 - 7 TONGA 1/4 final Bowl
25 06-02-2010 13:00 WALES 31 - 12 PAPUA NEW GUINEA 1/4 final Bowl
Until Vegas,
Cheers Dallen
Dallen Stanford played 54 matches for the USA 7s team throughout his career spanning from 2006 to 2009, including 13 IRB 7s tournament appearances. To read other articles by the South African visit www.ur7s.com and www.pakiscorner.com.
