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)

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

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)

The clubs join SWALEC Cup finalists Pontypridd and Aberavon who beat Swansea and Llandovery on the weekend to claim their place at the showpiece event in Welsh club rugby.

Ammanford are on course for a second SWALEC Plate title in three years after a convincing 58-26 defeat of Three West’s Gorseinon.

They beat Risca 46-20 in 2009, buoyed by a large travelling support and will return for more of the same in three weeks’ time.

Centre Tom Rees was the star of the show in the semi after his four tries sent the SWALEC Division Two West outfit into the final. There were two apiece for wing Mike Evans and No 8 Richard Davies while flanker Johnny Evans also went over.

John Ogden added four conversions and Dean Bromham kicked a conversion and a penalty.

The Cherry and Whites battled hard to remain in contention at half-time, trailing 20-14, before Rees eased Ammanford to a comfortable victory.

Glynneath hosted that semi-final but were celebrating their own success after a shock victory over Tondu.

Dale Newell crossed for the only try of the game as Third Division Glynneath toppled Tondu, of Division Two, 16-3 at Morriston.

The kicking of Jack O’Reilly also proved crucial, adding the conversion as well as two penalties and a drop goal. Dean Thomas landed Tondu’s only points.

SWALEC Plate Semi-final results

Gorseinon  26  Ammanford  58  (Glynneath RFC)

Tondu  3  Glynneath  16  (Morriston RFC)

SWALEC Plate Final to take place at Millennium Stadium on Monday, 2 May (3.15pm).

SWALEC Bowl

Senghenydd breezed into the final of the Bowl after a convincing 34-10 victory over Vardre at Maesteg RFC.

Michael Silcox sealed the victory with a hat-trick of tries for the SWALEC Four East leaders while Gareth Gibbs and Keiron Hughes also went over. Dean Watkins converted two and Alan Ford added a penalty to his conversion.

SWALEC Four South West opponents Vardre worked hard to get back into the game but a five pointer from Luke Thomas converted by Liam Garland, who also slotted over a penalty was not enough.

Vardre team manager Keith Jones said: "You could say that a few decisions went against us but in the end we were beaten by a better side on the day."

Senghenydd will meet Maesteg Quins at Millennium Stadium Finals Day after a nail-biting 31-30 victory over Four South East outfit Porth Quins at Taffs Well RFC.

Porth led 30-28 into the final minute when Gareth Lewis pounced to land a match-winning drop goal and send his side to the Millennium Stadium.

Lewis also converted a penalty try and landed six penalties for a personal tally of 23 points as Maesteg Quins of Four South West, extended their unbeaten record in all competitions.

SWALEC Bowl Semi-final results

Maesteg Quins  31  Porth Quins  30  (Taffs Well RFC)

Vardre  10  Senghenydd  34  (Maesteg RFC)

SWALEC Bowl Final to take place at Millennium Stadium at 1pm on Monday, 2 May (1pm).

The Scots got their day-one campaign off to a good start with an impressive (21-12) win over France but were ultimately undone by Dubai 7s Plate semi-finalists Wales and finalists Australia.

Having knocked the French out of the Bowl quarter-final in the Dubai 7s last weekend (28-22), the opener was lined up to be a hard-fought affair, but tries from Michael Fedo and a brace from James Fleming were enough to seal out the tie.

Despite the positive start, the match one win was Scotland’s last of day, losing in tense and winnable encounters with Wales (19-7) and Australia (21-7) in matches two and three.

Scotland 7s head coach, Graham Shiel, said: “These young players have stood up to a very tough international environment and gained some valuable experience but, at the moment, the overriding feeling is one of disappointment in that we haven’t come away with two wins – which is testimony to the way the players have performed against very strong sevens teams.

“Today’s results have underlined that the margin between errors and points in international sevens is very slim.”

First-half scores from Richard Pugh and Ifan Evans meant that Wales were clearly in the driving seat at the break in game two, with Rhys Jones’ single conversion giving them a 12-0 cushion at half-time however the resilience of the Scotland 7s team has been evident in recent times and a score from Ross Samson (converted by Skeen) put the Welshmen under clear pressure as the minutes wore on deep into added time (12-7).

Unfortunately it was Wales’ Tom Isaacs who got the crucial score, two minutes after the siren, to win the game.

In the final match of the day, the Scots took on Commonwealth Games silver medallists Australia and, with some gritty attacking and defensive play, kept the Aussies in line until the end of the half when their efforts were undone by two late scores from Johnathon Lance (6’30) and Gregory Jeloudev (7’48), both of which were converted by Hamish Angus.

Battling back against the Aussies was always going to be a challenge for the young team – a point that was soon underlined when Angus converted his own score after two minutes of second-half play (21-0).

Accurate and well executed sevens play saw Scotland’s Dougie Fife pull one back for the Scots (converted by Andrew Skeen) on the five minute mark but his score was the game’s last, meaning Scotland line up to face Namibia in tomorrow’s Bowl quarter-finals.

A determined Shield added: “Our focus is now fully on having a successful day tomorrow. The players have stepped up to every challenge we’ve set as a team and they will make every sacrifice to improve their performance under pressure.”

After the opening two tournaments, the eight-event HSBC Sevens World Series will break until February before taking its unique brand of entertainment to New Zealand, USA, Hong Kong, Australia, England and Scotland, climaxing at Murrayfield on 28-29 May 2011.

SCOTLAND 7s SQUAD:
David Denton (Edinburgh Rugby/Hawick), Struan Dewar (Edinburgh Rugby elite development/Heriot’s), Michael Fedo (Team Northumbria), Dougie Fife (Currie), Graham Fisken (West of Scotland), James Fleming (Glasgow Warriors/Dundee), Fraser Harkness (Selkirk), Peter Horne (Glasgow Warriors/Dundee), James Johnstone (Glasgow Warriors elite development/Currie), Scott Riddell (Stewart’s Melville), Ross Samson (Edinburgh Rugby/Boroughmuir), Andrew Skeen (Watsonians)

FOR PLAYER PROFILES OF THE SCOTLAND 7s SQUAD PLEASE VISIT WWW.SCOTLANDRUGBYTEAM.ORG

2010/11 HSBC Sevens World Series schedule
Dubai, UAE – 3-4 December 2010
George, South Africa – 10-11 December 2010
Wellington, New Zealand – 4-5 February 2011
Las Vegas, USA – 12-13 February 2011
Hong Kong – 25-27 March 2011
Adelaide, Australia – 2-3 April 2011
London, England – 21-22 May 2011
Edinburgh, Scotland – 28-29 May 2011

Craig Hill raced over in the first half and Lee Rees scored in the second period to lead Wales’s charge to a 14-5 victory over Russia in a hard fought final. Gareth Rees banged over two conversions to complete the scoring for Wales.

Russia rallied late on to score through Lev Sleptsov but it proved too little too late as Wales picked up their second title in two weeks.

En route to the final Wales swept aside the challenge of Tunisia 33-0 in the quarter-final before brushing aside the rapidly improving Portugal 24-7 in the semis.

After being knocked out of the main draw after finishing their pool in third place behind New Zealand and Samoa, Wales were looking to assert their authority in the Bowl competition.

In the quarter-final bowl against Tunisia there was only one side in it. Wales led 19-0 at the break thanks to tries by Justin Tiperic, Ashley Beck and Ifan Evans.

Wales suffered a setback when Chris Davies was sin binned in first minute of second half but tries by Alex Cuthbert and Gareth Davies ensured passage through to the semis.

Portugal put up a tougher fight in the semi-final and held Wales to a 5-0 lead after a Cuthbert try. But Wales stepped up a gear in the second spell and got the perfect start when Davies scampered over. Goncalo Foro hit back with Diogo Miranda adding the extras but Justin Tiperic put the issue beyond doubt with two smartly taken tries.

Wales coach Paul John was a delighted man after guiding his young side to their second success within seven days.

“Let’s be realistic, we’ve got eight brand new players in the squad. Eight players who have not played sevens tournament rugby before. But this bunch of youngsters have grown and grown tremendously on and off the field.

“They have pushed all the sides really close over the first two tournaments. We’ve played all the big teams over the past couple of weeks except for Kenya and England and to be fair, they have done themselves proud.

“We’ve got a lot more points than we did this time last year, so we’ve exceeded expectations from the first two tournaments so they can take confidence from what they have achieved.

“They have won both Bowls comfortably and two win two Bowls is difficult. They’ve shown they have the potential to get into the semi-finals of the main draw.”