IRB Sevens, London – Day One

Editor 24 May 2008 7:40 PM

Portugal have reached the Cup quarter-finals of the London leg of the IRB World Sevens series after seeing off Australia at Twickenham on Saturday.

Portugal have reached the Cup quarter-finals of the London leg of the IRB World Sevens series after seeing off Australia at Twickenham on Saturday.

The Portuguese recorded a comprehensive 28-12 win over the Australians, and – although they lost out against Fiji – they ground out a win against Canada and then watched on as Fijians beat Australia to assure them of a place in the last eight.

Defending London and IRB 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 a far trickier proposition. 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 Boks.

CUP QUARTER-FINALS:

New Zealand v England
Samoa v Portugal
Fiji v Scotland
South Africa v Argentina

DAY ONE – REPORTS:

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 had to wait for the outcome of the New Zealand-Wales match to learn their fate – a Cup quarter-final berth after two Nigel Hunt tries helped the champions to a 24-0 victory over Wales.

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, 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. Their biggest test of the day will come 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 in which Vincent Roux scored the 20,000th try in IRB Sevens history. England led South Africa 7-5 at half time in the final match, but tries from Aplon, MJ Mentz and Kabamba Floors powered the Boks to a 22-7 triumph, which avoided a quarter-final with New Zealand.

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 quarter-finals.

Portugal let slip a 12-0 lead to two Nanyak Dala tries for Canada, but a try from Antonio Pinto claimed a 17-14 victory to inch towards the Cup quarter-finals. 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.

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 the Samoans remained unbeaten with a 31-12 defeat of Scotland, before Russia showed the strides they are making by upsetting Series core side 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 quarter-final 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.

DAY ONE – RESULTS:

Match 1: New Zealand 10-7 Argentina
Match 2: Wales 52-7 Moldova
Match 3: Fiji 29-5 Canada
Match 4: Australia 12-28 Portugal
Match 5: Samoa 33-10 Russia
Match 6: Kenya 5-17 Scotland
Match 7: South Africa 40-0 France
Match 8: England 29-7 Spain
Match 9: New Zealand 38-14 Moldova
Match 10: Wales 21-21 Argentina
Match 11: Fiji 39-0 Portugal
Match 12: Australia 38-5 Canada
Match 13: Samoa 31-12 Scotland
Match 14: Kenya 7-17 Russia
Match 15: South Africa 42-5 Spain
Match 16: England 33-5 France
Match 17: Argentina 42-7 Moldova
Match 18: Canada 14-17 Portugal
Match 19: Russia 31-7 Scotland
Match 20: France 31-5 Spain
Match 21: New Zealand 24-0 Wales
Match 22: Fiji 12-10 Australia
Match 23: Samoa 28 Kenya 10
Match 24: South Africa 22 England 7