England Sevens win South Africa plate

Posted on Dec 14, 2009 in Rugby News

England beat South Africa 21-7 to win the plate at the Emirates Airline South Africa Sevens.

It was only the second time England had beaten the Boks in sevens on South African soil in what was a hyper-competitive plate competition.

England had to bounce back from their cup loss against winners New Zealand to beat Australia 24-5 in the plate semi final.

The last time an England side had beaten a South Africa side on their home patch was in 2003, but with Christian Wade (London Wasps), Worcester’s Jake Abbott, Ben Gollings (Gold Coast) and Isoa Damudamu (British Army) in inspired form Ben Ryan’s side ground out an impressive win, the biggest defeat Paul Treu’s side had faced in 80 matches.

England add 12 points to their World Series tally which puts them in third place behind Fiji and New Zealand respectively after reaching the Dubai cup semi final earlier this month.

England: Jake Abbott (Worcester Warriors), Kevin Barrett (capt, Saracens), Chris Brightwell (Birmingham & Solihull), Dan Caprice (Blackheath RFC), Chris Cracknell (Unattached), Isoa Damudamu (British Army), Ben Gollings (Gold Coast, Australia), Dan Norton (Bristol Rugby), James Rodwell (Moseley RFC), Nick Royle (Fylde RFC), Matt Turner (Bristol Rugby), Christian Wade (London Wasps)

England Sevens Emirates Airline South Africa Sevens results:

• December 11, England 42-0 Tunisia
• December 11, England 17-7 Argentina
• December 11, Scotland 19-29 England
• December 12, cup quarter final England 19-22 New Zealand
• December 12, plate semi final England 24-5 Australia
• December 12, plate final England 21-7 South Africa

Young Wales 7s win silverware again

Posted on Dec 14, 2009 in Rugby News

Wales have won silverware for the second week running by claiming the Bowl in George, South Africa, in the second leg of the IRB Sevens series.

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.

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Barrett called to captain England Sevens

Posted on Dec 1, 2009 in Rugby News

Kevin Barrett has been named captain for the Emirates Airline Dubai and South Africa Sevens (Dec 4-5 & 11-12).

After helping his club Saracens beat World Champions South Africa, 24-23 last month, the England scrum half will take the lead from last season’s IRB Sevens Player of the Year Ollie Phillips (Stade Francais).

Last season Barrett also helped England to win the cup trophies at the Wellington and London legs of the IRB Sevens World Series.

This Friday England will take on Russia, USA and Kenya on day one and Barrett is looking forward to leading his team to the field.

“I’m really excited. Ben (Ryan) gave me the news the other day and I felt very privileged but we have lots of leaders in this team like Ben Gollings (Gold Coast), Chris Cracknell, Isoa Damudamu (British Army) and James Rodwell (Moseley RFC) so I’m hoping I can call on all of them.” said Barrett.

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Namibia claim Africa 1 qualification for RWC 2011

Posted on Nov 30, 2009 in Rugby News

Namibia has won the battle for the Africa 1 qualification spot for Rugby World Cup 2011 (RWC 2011) after defeating Tunisia over a two-match series with an aggregate score of 40-23.

The sides met two weeks ago in Tunis, where Namibia claimed a narrow victory, defeating the home side 18-13. The second leg of their challenge took place yesterday on Namibian homesoil in Windhoek where they defeated the visitors 22-10.

Namibia’s qualification now completes Pool D which includes Fiji, Samoa, South Africa and Wales.

“Our warmest congratulations go to Namibia on their qualification for RWC 2011. The completed line up for Pool D is very strong and will provide some exciting matches in 2011. In particular, I am looking forward to Namibia’s match against their African neighbours, South Africa,” said Rugby New Zealand 2011 Ltd (RNZ 2011) CEO Martin Snedden.

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Scotland getting continuity in sevens squad says Gemmell

Posted on Nov 26, 2009 in Rugby News

The IRB Sevens World Series gets underway next weekend in Dubai before moving onto George in South Africa, so today, Scotland 7s coach Stephen Gemmell announced a strong and well prepared squad for the opening tournament of the season.

“There’s some continuity in our squad now. We’ve got Scott Forrest, Mike Adamson and Colin Shaw who have sevens as their main competition.

“It’s nice to have that backbone and also having Hefin O’Hare and Andrew Turnbull involved in the squad who were in London and Edinburgh last season. That’s five players there who have been involved in consecutive semi-finals.”

There are six new caps in the squad, among which are Bath scrum-half Mike Baxter, Sale Sharks back-rower David Tait and Glasgow’s formidable ball carrying flanker James Eddie.

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