Dubai Sevens: Day One Wrap

Editor

Reigning Sevens Series champions and Olympic gold medallists Fiji were one of four teams to remain undefeated on day one of the Dubai Sevens.

The Pacific islanders took a major step towards retaining their Dubai Sevens title with three wins in Pool A over Wales, Argentina and Canada, providing some thrilling rugby at the opening round of the world series.

They will face France in the last eight and will be joined by three other unbeaten sides from day one as South Africa, England and Australia all shone bright in the Dubai sun. England will tackle Scotland with Australia facing Wales and South Africa up against New Zealand in what is set to be a mouth-watering encounter.

“We’re happy with how we performed but we knew it was going to be tough,” said Fiji captain Osea Kolinisau. “We got three wins in the bag, and a win is a win. We learned a lot from the first three games.

“Against Argentina we knew they were going to throw the kitchen sink at us because they had lost to Wales. I am proud of the way the boys were resilient. We were down twice and had two yellow cards, but the boys came back so it’s testament to them.”

South Africa, series runners-up for four years in a row, put their stamp on Pool B with victories over Scotland, USA and Uganda. World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year Seabelo Senatla also showed his quality with six tries on day one, two more than any other player.

The Blitzboks will play New Zealand in the Cup quarter-finals, a side they lost to twice in finals during their 2015-16 campaign in both Wellington and Vancouver.

England, runners-up last year in Dubai, produced a dominant display against the All Blacks Sevens in Pool C to add to their earlier victories against Samoa and Russia. They will face Calum Macrae’s Scotland side on day two.

In Pool D a new-look Australia, under the captaincy of Sam Myers, notched up three wins against Japan, France and Kenya. Head coach Andy Friend’s side will play Wales in their Cup quarter-final.

Dubai Sevens quarter-finals: Saturday, December 3
(kick-off times are local, GMT +4)

Cup

Fiji v France – 09:00
England v Scotland – 09:22
Australia v Wales – 09:44
South Africa v New Zealand – 10:06

Challenge Trophy

Argentina v Japan – 07:30
Samoa v Uganda – 07:52
Kenya v Canada – 08:14
USA v Russia – 08:36

Results

Kenya 14-21 France
Australia 19-14 Japan
United States 5-14 Scotland
South Africa 46-0 Uganda
Argentina 19-21 Wales
Fiji 26-19 Canada
England 19-7 Samoa
New Zealand 26-5 Russia
Kenya 17-7 Japan
Australia 28-0 France
United States 29-7 Uganda
South Africa 21-5 Scotland
Argentina 21-14 Canada
Fiji 24-12 Wales
England 38-7 Russia
New Zealand 26-21 Samoa
France 35-0 Japan
Australia 17-12 Kenya
Scotland 35-14 Uganda
South Africa 19-17 United States
Wales 31-5 Canada
Fiji 22-19 Argentina
Samoa 17-15 Russia
New Zealand 12-26 England

“With thanks to World Rugby”