New Sevens season off to flyer in Gold Coast
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Fiji impressed on day one and will play Wales on day two at the Cbus Super Stadium in the Cup quarters
New Zealand, Argentina, Fiji and South Africa all impressed on the opening day of the Gold Coast Sevens, round one of the HSBC Sevens World Series, maintaining 100% records at the Cbus Stadium.
Defending Series and Gold Coast champions New Zealand scored more than 100 points against France, Japan and Samoa and will face England in the quarter finals, while Los Pumas beat England, USA and Canada to set up a match with Samoa.
Australia lost 35-12 to Fiji in the Pool C decider in coach Geraint John’s first World Series event in charge of the hosts as Ben Ryan’s side, who won the Oceania Sevens last week, conceded just 19 points in their three matches, and will play Wales on day two.
In the fourth and final quarter final South Afria, who had Seabelo Senatla to thank four for tries in their wins over Kenya, Wales and American Samoa, await the hosts.
Pool A (NZL, FRA, SAM, JPN)
New Zealand’s DJ Forbes, Scott Curry and Sam Dickson scored two tries apiece in their side’s nine-try 59-0 victory over Japan to make it two wins from two on day one. The defending Gold Coast champions earlier beat France 36-7 with Dickson scoring his first brace of the day. Gillies Kaka scored nine points as Sir Gordon Tietjens’ side defeated Samoa 28-17 in the Pool A decider.
France got off to an early lead in their match against Samoa, but Samoa surged back strong in the second half and produced a 19-12 win thanks to two tries from Samoa Toloa.
Japan also scored first against Samoa, but it was the Islanders who came out on top with a 40-14 victory with Tom Iosefo scoring a hat-trick. Les Bleus ensured they finished third in the pool by beating Japan 33-14.
Pool B (RSA, WAL, KEN, ASA)
South Africa’s Seabelo Senatla scored three tries and Steven Hunt two as South Africa beat Kenya 38-0 to top Pool B. Earlier, Senatla helped his side in a tightly-contested 19-12 victory over Wales after scoring one try and demonstrating impressive speed as he prevented an early try from Will Harries.
Neil Powell’s Commonwealth Games’ gold medalists then defeated American Samoa with debutant Ruhan Nel helping himself to a hat-trick before Senatla added his own in a 19-0 defeat of Kenya.
“A win is a win and we took all three of them today but we had a very slow start this morning,” said South Africa captain Frankie Horne. “We’re just lucky we got all three in our pool and we’re hoping we can take it into tomorrow. It’s all about consistency and taking it step-by-step.”
Wales joined South Africa in the quarter finals after beating Kenya 24-19 and American Samoa, appearing in their first-ever Gold Coast Sevens, 36-0 with Tom Williams scoring three of their tries.
Pool C (FIJ, AUS, SCO POR)
Fiji defeated Australia 35-12 to end day one with a 100% record in the final match of day one at the Cbus Super Stadium with two tries from Semi Kunitani.
Earlier, the Islanders proved too strong for Scotland, winning 40-7 in their first match thanks to 19 points from captain Osea Kolinisau before Apisalome Waqatabu scored a hat-trick in their match with Portugal.
“There’s some serious teams out there from now on so we’ve got to be on the money,” said Fiji coach Ben Ryan.
Hosts Australia, who qualified for the Cup quarter finals in second behind Fiji, left Portugal scoreless in their match with a convincing 29-0 win which featured five tries including one from captain Ed Jenkins before they beat Scotland 24-14 thanks to two tries from Pama fou.
Aderito Esteves scored a dramatic last-minute try to give Portugal a 21-21 draw with Scotland, but they still finished fourth in Pool C.
Pool D (ENG, ARG, CAN, USA)
Santiago Gomez Cora’s Argentina booked their place in the Cup quarter finals with a 100% record when Santiago Cordero rounded off a 24-12 victory over Mike Friday’s USA.
Cordero earlier scored two tries in a 14-12 win over Canada after Rodrigo Etchart scored a try on his debut as Los Pumas beat England 21-19.
Despite United States’ Zack Test adding his fourth try of the day against England following a hat-trick against Canada, Simon Amor’s side bounced back from defeat to Argentina to win 14-7 against Mike Friday’s side. Dan Norton then scored his third try of the day in a 19-12 win against Canada to secure their place in the quarter finals as Pool D runners-up.
“The whole day is up for grabs,” said England captain Phil Burgess.
“We’ve defended well in the last two games and showed some good heart. There are some tired bodies now and we will be glad of the rest this evening. We will come back fresh ready for tomorrow morning.”
Courtesy of IRB
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