New Zealand clinch HSBC Sevens World Series as Fiji claim London title

Posted on May 14, 2012 in England Sevens, Sevens

New Zealand have retained their HSBC Sevens World Series title, ending the season with a third place finish at the Marriott London Sevens to finish on 167 Series points, six ahead of closest rivals Fiji.

The New Zealanders sealed a 10th Series title with a ruthless 36-0 quarter final win against South Africa, but fell to a brilliant Fijian performance in the semi final. However, the New Zealanders recovered to end the season on a high note, beating Argentina in the play-off for bronze.

The Fijians stormed to the London title to cap a season of achievement for them, matching New Zealand’s three Cup titles and underlining just how tight things are at the top of the Sevens game.

A record two-day Sevens crowd of 103,027 attended Twickenham over the weekend, a fitting climax to another thrilling season of international Rugby Sevens.

"It’s pretty special, we worked extremely hard to get this one and I think everyone knows how competitive the Sevens Series is now. We came here with an 11-point lead but still with an opportunity of blowing it," said NZ captain, DJ Forbes.

"The quarter final win (36-0 win against South Africa) was probably our only complete game of rugby this weekend, but there was a lot of passion, a lot behind it to make sure we wrapped up the Series.

"At the end of the day it comes down to consistency and that’s where we were probably a little bit ahead, but taking nothing away from Fiji, they’ve done extremely well to win here.

"I guess for us you could see that we’re used to playing under pressure, regardless of where we’re playing. If you’re wearing a black jersey everyone expects you to do well."

IRB Chairman Bernard Lapasset said: "Once again New Zealand have proved that, over the course of an entire season, they are the finest Sevens side in the world and our congratulations go to them.

"And yet even on this, their day of triumph, they were denied in the Cup semi-finals by their closest challengers Fiji, which again underlines just how competitive our global Game of Rugby Sevens has become.

"In the women’s event too we have seen a wonderful tournament from the Netherlands in reaching a first Cup title and congratulations to England on winning their second title of the season.

"Twickenham has provided a wonderful and fitting stage for the finale of another superb season, capped off by another record crowd for a two-day event. We can look forward to a bright future as we gear towards the 2016 Olympic Games."

Australia took the Plate in London, beating England, who finished the season in third place ahead of Samoa in fourth and South Africa in fifth.

A record two-day Sevens crowd of 103,027 attended Twickenham over the weekend, a fitting climax to another thrilling season of international Rugby Sevens.

The Fijians stormed to the London title to cap a season of achievement for them, matching New Zealand’s three Cup titles and underlining just how tight things are at the top of the Sevens game.

The New Zealanders sealed a 10th Series title with a ruthless 36-0 quarter final win against South Africa, but fell to a brilliant Fijian performance in the semi final. However, the New Zealanders recovered to end the season on a high note, beating Argentina in the play-off for bronze.

Sixth placed Australia won the Plate, Wales lifted the Bowl, France were triumphant in the Shield whilst England won their second IRB Women’s Sevens Challenge Cup.

Australia pip hosts England to Plate

England narrowly missed out on the consolation of a Plate trophy when Dan Bibby missed a conversion and a penalty drop goal in the second half of the Plate final, allowing impressive Australia to hang on to a 14-12 victory and collect 13 Series points.

However, Mat Turner’s try in the final did put him one ahead of teammate Dan Norton as the season’s leading try scorer.

England reached the Plate final after a Turner try and Tom Mitchell conversion clinched a late 17-15 victory against South Africa. Australia reached the final after the Tokyo Sevens winners overturned a 12-5 half time deficit to beat Spain 17-12 in the semi.

Wales beat Scotland in Bowl

Twelve points from Alex Walker hands Wales a 27-5 victory against Scotland in the Bowl, as the reigning RWC Sevens champions collect eight points for the Series.

Two second half tries, one after the final buzzer had sounded, from Dan Fish booked Wales’ place in the Bowl final after a 28-26 victory against Portugal. They met Scotland following Graham Shiel’s side recorded a 31-19 victory against Zimbabwe in the second semi final thanks to two tries from Michael Fedo.

Earlier, 11 points from Alex Walker helped Wales beat USA 28-19 in the second Bowl quarter, entering this competition having lost to Spain and Fiji on day one.

Carl Murray scored twice for Portugal in the day’s opening match against RWC Sevens 2013 hosts Russia. The sides last met in the core team qualifying quarter final in Hong Kong, with Portugal narrowly winning 17-10 on their way to claiming one of the three places for next season’s Series, and recorded a 24-17 victory in London.

In the third match Scotland beat crowd favourites Kenya 21-5 before Dubai Sevens runners-up France suffered a 19-17 defeat to Zimbabwe with Jacques Leitao scoring the winning try for the Cheetahs.

 

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Under 18 RBS National Youth League Cup and Bowl Semis

Posted on Mar 2, 2012 in Scottish Rugby

The semi-final draw for the RBS National Youth League Cup has been made with last year’s champions, runners-up and Bowl champions reaching the under-18 Cup semi-finals and a new group of semi-finalists reaching the penultimate round of the under-18 Bowl tournament.

Scottish Rugby’s head of community rugby, Colin Thomson, said: “The RBS National Youth League Cup is heating up as it builds towards its climax at Murrayfield.

“It’s great to see some of Scotland top young teams from previous years reaching the semi-finals as well as a host of new teams ready to compete.

“Scottish Rugby wishes all teams involved the best of luck on their road to the final.”

Stirling County won the under-18 trophy last year, beating Selkirk Youth Rugby Club 41-13. Both teams have reached this season’s national semi-finals with wins over Hamilton (10-0) and Biggar Colts (25-10) respectively.

Stirling County will take on Gala Wanderers who reached this round with a win over Highland (23-17) and Selkirk Youth Rugby Club will take on last year’s Bowl Champions Boroughmuir who reached the semi-finals through the away team ruling after reaching a 15-15 draw with Dumfries.

In the Bowl competition Peebles Colts go head-to-head with Greenock Wanderers. The teams beat Melrose (8-0) and BATs/RHC (15-0) respectively. They are joined in the race for the silverware by Perthshire who beat Musselburgh Colts in the quarter-finals (33-13) and Deeside, who reached the semis after Kilmarnock conceded their quarter-final fixture.

The under-18 Cup semi-finals will be played on Sunday 22 April unless both teams agree to play on the Saturday (21 April). The Bowl ties will also be played on the Sunday.

RBS Under-18 National Youth League Cup semi-final
Selkirk Youth v Boroughmuir
Stirling County v Gala Wanderers
RBS Under-18 National Youth League Bowl semi-final
Peebles Colts v Greenock Wanderers
Perthshire v Deeside

USA Eagles finally fly with Bowl triumph

Posted on Jun 20, 2011 in Latest Rugby News

USA 32-Russia 25.

TODD CLEVER lifted the Churchill Cup Bowl at Sixways to give the US Eagles a boost ahead of their Rugby World Cup showdown with Russia.

After a shocking start to their Churchill campaign – heavy defeats to England Saxons and Tonga – they salvaged a victory from this afternoon’s victory, courtesy of a try nine minutes from time by Tai Enosa.

US Eagles fly half and man-of-the-match Nese Malifa said: “We knew Russia were going to come out hard and that we had to take the fight to them. Hats off to the boys – it was a big day at the office.”

The teams will meet in New Plymouth, New Zealand on September 15 and Russian boss Kingsley Jones admitted: “If we could have kept hold of the ball more we could have won. USA were smarter than us at the breakdown. We are taking two steps forward and one step back but we need to take the positives out of this tournament.”

Yury Kushnarev and Malifa traded early penalties in an even first 20 minutes before the USA No 10 put a second chance wide.

The Eagles made several breaks and they eventually got through after Andrew Suniula brushed off five tacklers before being hauled down short of the line. The ball was recycled and Malifa sent Paul Emerick over.

Russia hit back to level the scores at 8-8 with a try from Vladimir Ostroushko after taking Kushnarev’s miss pass after a solid scrum platform put the Eagles under pressure.

And the Bears almost scored the try from the end of Sixways when they counter attacked from in front of their own posts and, 80 metres later, only a knock-on prevented the score.        

The Russians, intent on keeping the ball in hand, spurned a penalty chance to go for touch but their endeavour was not matched by their ability to win the subsequent line-out and the chance was lost.

Kushnarev and Malifa added another penalty apiece before Russia grabbed their second try when Igo Klyuchnikov made the break, Ostroushko jinked his way closer down the wing and Alexander Voytov trundled in from Alexander Sahkirov’s pass.

Malifa kept the Eagles in touch when he created a try for Suniula, who checked and sped to the line and it was all USA as Clever intercepted the ball in a flat Russian back line move to race 70 metres and score to put them 25-18 up.

But the Russians weren’t out of it and Vasily Artemyev stepped inside and burrowed over for Kushnarev to convert and level the scores.

USA had a chance from halfway to edge ahead but Clever opted for the lineout which crumbled but they kept up the pressure and Blaine Scully insitigated the counter attack for Emerick and Suniula to combine and send Enosa over.

USA: B Scully; C Hawley (T Enosa 59), P Emerick, A Suniula, K Swiryn;  N Malifa, M Petri (T Usasz 62); M Moeakiola (E Fry 68), P Thiel, S Pittman, J Van der Giessen, S Lavalla, I Basauri (N Johnson 62), T Clever (capt), L Stanfill (P Danahy 78). Reps (not used): C Biller, R Suniula.

Scorers: Tries: Emerick, Suniula, Clever, Enosa; Pens: Malifa (2); Cons: Malifa (3).

Russia:I Klyuchnikov; V Artemyev, M Babaev, A Makovetsky, V Ostroushko;  Y Kushnarev, A Shakirov; S Popov, V Korshunov (capt), I Prishchepenko, A Voytov, D Antonov, A Temnov, A Garbuzov (V Gresev 36-40, A Panasenko 62), V Grachev (Gresev 50). Reps (not used): V Tsnobiladze, A Chernyshev, A Bykanov, A Ryabov, I Galinovsky.

Scorers: Tries: Ostroushko, Voytov, Artemyev; Pens: Kushnarev (2); Cons: Kushnarev (2).

Referee: D Pearson (RFU)

World Cup rehearsal in Bowl battle

Posted on Jun 17, 2011 in Latest Rugby News

Eddie O’Sullivan has revealed the starting line-up for his side’s final Churchill Cup fixture, as the Eagles look to come away from the tournament with a win in the Bowl final for a second time.

In a preview to the 2011 Rugby World Cup Pool C fixture, USA Eagles will face Russia at Sixways on Saturday in a bid to take home some silverware.

O’Sullivan’s Eagles have lost both their Pool A fixtures, suffering a Churchill Cup record defeat (8-87) to England Saxons on the opening weekend at Franklin’s Gardens, followed three days later by a second loss to Tonga (13-44) at Esher Rugby. Despite the losses, the former Ireland head coach insists the tournament has been a worthwhile experience, saying:

“It has been a very valuable Churchill Cup so far as we have had a great opportunity to look at players and combinations very closely for RWC.” commented O’Sullivan.

“The first two games against a very strong Saxons team and Tonga have been tough. The Tonga result was disappointing as we fielded a much more experienced team than against the Saxons. But we looked very ring rusty and made a lot of errors.

“I am confident after our third week in camp we will play with a lot more precision on Saturday. But it will take a big performance as Russia are playing well and were unlucky to lose to Italy A. They have some dangerous backs and a very solid pack so we will need to fire on all cylinders for this one.”

Saturday’s team shows five changes to the starting twenty-two that lost to Tongan, as former Sale Sharks scrum-half Mike Petri is named in replacement of Tim Usasz, who moves to the bench.  Phil Thiel shows the only change in the front row, replacing Chris Biller, while Louis Stanfill moves from the second row to number 8; John Van der Giessen starting at lock.

Churchill Cup finals, Saturday June 18, Sixways.

Bowl final: USA v Russia, 1200

USA: B. Scully; C. Hawley, P. Emerick, A. Suniula, K.Swiryn;  N.Malifa, M. Petri; M. Moeakiola, P. Thiel, S. Pittman, J. Van der Giessen, S. Lavalla, I. Basauri, T. Clever (C), L. Stanfill. Reps: C. Biller, E. Fry, P. Danahy, N. Johnson, T. Usasz, R. Suniula, T. Enosa

Russia: I. Klyuchnikov; V. Artemyev, M. Babaev, A. Makovetsky, V. Ostroushko;  Y. Kushnarev, A. Shakirov; S. Popov, V. Korshunov(C), I. Prishchepenko, A. Voytov, D. Antonov, A. Temnov, A. Garbuzov, V. Grachev Reps: V. Tsnobiladze, A. Chernyshev, A. Panasenko, V. Gresev, A. Bykanov, A. Ryabov, I. Galinovsky

Added time try kills Scotland’s hopes

Posted on May 29, 2011 in Latest Rugby News

Scotland failed to repeat their Twickenham sevens Bowl heroics at Murrayfield when Kenya exacted revenge in added time to lift the trophy.

The Africans scorched into an impressive first-half lead with two converted tries before the break.

Backed by the voices of a 14,170-strong crowd, Scotland fought back with two of their own in the second-half to level the match but the hooter sounded and, after nine second-half minutes of play, Kenya crossed for the agonising winner.

The Scots were unfortunate to find themselves in the Bowl on day two, as the only nation to win two matches and not qualify for the top-tier competition.

Their win over London Sevens Cup finalists, Fiji (14-12) and their blitz of the USA (45-7) left them just two points short of qualification and three short of topping the group.

The Scots put on impressive showing on the second day of the showcase global event, seeing off Canada (26-14) in the quarter-final and Argentina (22-7) in the semis before taking to the pitch for the ill-fated final.

Scotland Sevens’ centre and tournament top try-scorer, Jim Thompson, said: “We won four of our six games so it was a great tournament to be part of. I’m obviously gutted to have missed out on the cup quarter-final by two points and to lose out to Kenya today in the Bowl final.

“Our home support was fantastic. Playing for your country at Murrayfield is something you always dream of and is just a great honour.”

The day two attendance, combined with the day one crowd (12,235) means that the tournament has recorded its highest ever ticket sales (26,405), adding around 3000 to the 2010 crowd and 6000 to that of 2008.

SCOTLAND SEVENS SQUAD FOR THE EMIRATES AIRLINE EDINBURGH SEVENS: Tom Brown (Edinburgh), Struan Dewar (Edinburgh elite development player), Michael Fedo (Team Northumbria), Colin Gregor (Glasgow Warriors), Peter Horne (Glasgow Warriors), Lee Jones (Edinburgh), Stuart McInally (Edinburgh), Scott Newlands (Edinburgh), Scott Riddell (Stewart’s Melville), Andrew Skeen (Watsonians), Jim Thompson (Edinburgh), Andrew Turnbull (Edinburgh)