Samoa wins big in Las Vegas
by Paki's Corner | 17 February 2010 (19:44)
Samoa stormed to victory in the first ever USA Las Vegas sevens tournament with a clinical 33-12 result over rivals New Zealand. Mikaele Pesamino pulled off two spectacular intercept tries to become the crowd hero, as Samoa move into second place on the World Series standings.
As mentioned last week I was in Las Vegas for the entire event – and had an unbelievable time in the new sevens venue. Part of the festivities included several different club tournaments, with me playing sevens for Belmont Shore in the Championship Cup Series (CCS). We reached the final (which was played at 5pm inside the Sam Boyd Stadium during day 1 of the IRB sevens tournament) and managed to beat the Chicago Lions 31-7 in a hard fought encounter in front of 20,000 spectators. As the winners we received a check for $7,500 – proving that people can leave Vegas with money!
Vegas Day 1 summary:
New Zealand emerged as pool A winners, but had to fight all the way against Australia, scraping through 12-7. Playing in their first ever IRB sevens tournament Guyana almost embarrassed France, who had to score at the death to salvage a 12-12 draw.
In Pool B it was the USA who nearly caused the upset of the tournament in their opening match against Fiji. The Americans led at the half, and were very unlucky with a referee call, going down 14-12 in a thriller. Fiji ended the day with a solid 12-7 victory over South Africa, while the home crowd went wild as the USA destroyed rivals Canada 26-5.
Pool C belonged to Samoa who saw off the Kenyan challenge 17-5. This game produced the loudest frenzy on day 1 with thousands of Samoans and Kenyans showing their support in the stands.
The last bracket, Pool D, also saw some massive surprises with Japan beating Argentina 7-0. Last year’s USA tournament winners Argentina then lost to Wales, before pulling off a 12-12 draw against England.
This setup some exciting Cup quarterfinals for Day 2.
New Zealand continued their form sending Paul Treu’s South African side out of the Cup with a 12-7 win. With the crowd on the edge of their seats, Benedict Nyambu’s try sealed a famous extra time 26-21 victory for Kenya against England. I was in the middle of the Kenyan fans during this game doing some crowd interviews and reactions for the tournament big screen, and let me tell you, it was absolute mayhem!
Next up Samoa beat Wales 17-10 followed by Australia producing one of the performances of the weekend beating Fiji 28-7.
Australia almost took out Samoa in the Cup semi final, going down near full-time to a Pesamino try and Lolo Lui’s conversion, 14-12. This young Aussie side has been improving from week to week, and I expect them to go all the way in the near future.
In the other semi final New Zealand ended Kenya’s run via a 21-7 result.
This left New Zealand to attempt their 3rd title out of four tournaments, despite losing a few players to injury. In a bizarre turn of events I actually received a phone call whilst in the stands to rush down to the Kiwi change room to be a reserve for the IRB sevens final against Samoa! Seriously. How it works at every World Series tournament is that the host country provides a squad of around 10 reserve pool players. The player pool is sometimes players on the verge of national selection, or others who live in the region. Wales actually used ex-Eagle winger Jason Pye (who played for Aspen in the CCS) in their final match on Day 2!
So back to the phone call – I ignored it (not believing the news) – only to receive the same phone call from someone else. So after getting rushed to the change room check-in I found one of my Belmont Shore teammates Sinipati Uiagalelei had arrived a minute before me and was kitting up for the All Blacks! He never played but still ran out in the final! He will be telling that story for years (as will I)…
In the other sections, South Africa bounced back to claim the Plate trophy by beating England and Fiji on route, finally dispatching their island rivals. The USA stormed to victories over Argentina and then France in the Bowl final, showing the home fans their exciting potential. Then another first for the Vegas sevens – USA captain Kevin Swiryn was caught on camera proposing to his girlfriend directly after his team won the Bowl! She said yes on this amazing Valentines Day surprise!
The 2009/2010 Points Table after four rounds:
NEW ZEALAND 84
SAMOA 70
FIJI 68
ENGLAND 50
AUSTRALIA 46
KENYA 44
SOUTH AFRICA 36
ARGENTINA 22
WALES 18
CANADA 6
UNITED STATES 4
The remaining tournaments are:
Adelaide (Australia): March 19-21, 2010
Hong Kong: March 26-28, 2010
London (England): May 22-23, 2010
Edinburgh (Scotland): May 29-30, 2010
What a weekend!
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.
