Kiwis beat Fiji in the Final

New Zealand beat Fiji 33-19 in the Final of the George Sevens, Round Two in the International Rugby Board (IRB) Sevens series, on Saturday. The result means New Zealand join Fiji and England in a three-way tie at the top of the IRB Sevens standings.

Champs: Hayden Reid leads the NZ charge

It was a game worthy of the title 'grand final', simply because of the skill and commitment showed by the New Zealanders - which allowed them to dominate a team that beat them in the semi-final in Dubai a week ago.

In the George Final Fiji almost scored inside the first 30 seconds, but the Kiwis raced back in defence and a desperate tackle knocked the ball out of the Fijian hand. It was the Kiwis who, from the scrum, kicked the ball ahead and followed up, for Hayden Reid to score the opening try. Orene Ai'i added the conversion for a 7-0 lead.

Four minutes later Josh Blackie forced his way over for the second try, after the Fijians displayed some very sloppy defensive work. Ai'i made it 14-0 with the conversion.

Two minutes later the Fijians again slipped a few tackles and this time Sosene Anesi raced over. The conversion was wide, but New Zealand had a 19-0 lead.

Fiji finally managed to get a score on the board, right on the stroke of half-time, when Marika Vakacegu rounded off a well-worked move. The conversion was wide and Fiji were down 19-5 at the break.

New Zealand dealt the Fijian hopes a crucial blow early in the second half, when the Pacific Islanders again slipped a tackle and the Kiwis raced from inside their 22 for Sosene Anesi to score. Ai'i made it 26-5 with the conversion.

With less than five minutes left on the clock Josh Blackie raced over for another try, after a clever grubber that caught the Fijian defence flat footed. The conversion made it a clear 28-point lead - 33-5.

Neumi Nanuku finally pulled one back for the Fijians in the 7th minute, after some clever stepping and great angled running. The conversion made it 33-12.

Fiji tried to get some more consolation scores, but the Kiwis' commitment on defence was incredible and a couple of Fijians were bundled out near the corner or just stopped short.

Right on full-time Fiji got their final score, when Marika Vakacegu stepped his way past the tiring Kiwi defenders.

Other finals:

Plate Final:

South Africa, basing their game on some rock solid defending and outstanding discipline at the breakdown, produced probably their best display of the tournament to beat Samoa 12-7 and take the Plate home.

The South Africans opened the scoring in the first minute with a Wayne van Heerden try, after an intercept, which was the result of some intense pressure.

It took the South Africans three minutes to score their next try, by Jose van Rensburg, after a heel against the head. The conversion saw the Boks move into a 12-0 lead - which was also the half-time score.

Samoa kept better control of the ball after the break, and completely dominated possession, but found the South African defence near impenetrable. It was not until the seventh minute of the second half that they managed their first score - a converted try by David Lemi.

Samoa launched one final desperate onslaught, but again the South African covered defence was simply too good.

Bowl Final:

Canada, despite putting up some strong resistance at first, just fell off the pace as Australia race away to a convincing 38-12 victory.

The Australians opened the scoring when, after some tense opening minutes, Nick Reily suddenly found himself in space and raced over for the first try of the match. A Yellow card saw Australia reduced to six men and that allowed the Canadians the space they needed - with Brodie Henderson going over for a converted try to make it 7-5 to Canada.

Australia was soon back in front, with a James Morgan try. Reily scored again for Australia as the half-time hooter went, to leave the score at 19-7 in favour of the Aussies at the break.

Reily completed his hat-trick in the first minute of the second half and Australia had a 26-7 lead. And just over a minute later Reily recorded his second four-try count - after having also scored four times in the semi-final.

Shield Final:

Portugal, one of the nominations for International Rugby Board (IRB) Team of the Year, finally won some silverware when they beat France 17-12 in an intense Shield Final.

The game started with a yellow cards to France's Franck Laquet and Renaud Dulin. With two men down France could simply not plug all the gaps and Portugal scored two tries - with Antonio Pinto and Diogo Mateus going over to give their team a 12-0 lead.

France came back through a Franck Laquet try, but when Felipe Grenho scored for Portugal just after the break to take it to 17-7 for Portugal it appeared all over for the French.

More trouble followed as Martial Molinier was yellow carded. Then the French did come back with a try by Jerome Naves, but the final act of the game was a yellow card to Naves for a high tackle.

Semi-finals:

The big news from the early matches in the play-offs is the points-scoring spree of England star Ben Gollings, who collected two tries and six conversions in England's 52-0 quarter-final rout of Tunisia. He added a late conversion that in the 19-12 semi-final loss to Fiji here for another two points.

This saw him close the gap on the IRB's all-time Sevens points scorer Waisale Serevi, who is in first place with 1033 points. Gollings went past the 1000 point mark against the outclassed Tunisians and with the two points from the semi-final now stand on 1021.

In the quarter-finals hosts South Africa made an early exit, with the Springboks went down 22-12 to a resilient Argentinean side.

The other big guns, including defending champions England, all advanced to the semi-finals without too much trouble.

Cup semi-finals:

New Zealand always had too much pace and skill for an Argentinean team that opted for all-out attack and deserted their normally sound defensive approach. The result was disastrous for the South Americans, who allowed the Kiwis to stroll in for several soft tries and a comfortable 28-14 win.

New Zealand scored three times before the break, with Hayden Reid opening the scoring with a 60-metre run after the Pumas had been on the attack. Further tries by Reid and Roy Kinikinilau saw the Kiwis take a 21-0 lead into the break.

When Josh Blackie scored in the first minute after the break the Kiwis had wrapped up the game. Argentina came back with late tries by Agustin Gosio and Francisco Morey, but it was all too little too late.

The second Cup semi-final, between defending champions England and Fiji, was always going to be far more intense. Especially after last week in Dubai, where England survived a late Fijian rally to win the Final against the Pacific Islanders. This time Fiji extracted revenge with a 19-12 win.

The crucial moment of a very tense first half was a yellow card to England's Kai Horstmann, after he had tripped an opponent deliberately. This allowed Fiji to open the scoring, with Mosese Luveitasau going over to give his team a 5-0 break at the lead.

Straight after the break Luveitasau scored his and Fiji's second try from turnover ball. The conversion made it 12-0 and England had a big hill to climb. They started almost immediately, with Mathew Tait breaking clear and racing almost 60 metres downfield for the score.

Then came another crucial play, with Horstmann again being yellow carded - and his second yellow becoming an automatic red. From that penalty Fiji raced clear for Neumi Nanuku to score what was the clinching try. Neil Starling scored a consolation try, but it was not enough to keep England in the competition.

Plate semi-finals:

Hosts South African, following their below par performance in the quarter-final stages, looked even more lethargic against their fellow Africans, but eventually awoke from their slumber to secure a 49-10 win.

Allan Makaka opened the scoring with a try for Kenya, Lesley Jackson and Jaco Pretorius went over to put the hosts into the lead. Oscar Osula pulled one back for the Kenyans, but from then on it was all South Africa - with further tries going to Wayne van Heerden (two), Jackson, Jose van Rensburg and Pretorius.

Samoa was also simply too powerful for the game Tunisian outfit, running in a 31-0 winning margin. Although Tunisia put up some initial resistance, the Samoans always had enough in reserve to run in tries when they needed.

The Samoan tries went to Desmond Faaiuaso, David Lemi (three) and Samu Eteuati. Mark Tanuvasa added three conversions.

Shield semi-finals:

In the first semi-final Portugal dismissed the Arabian Gulf 41-0, with Antonio Pinto, Diogo Coelho (two), Felipe Grenho, Frederico de Sousa, Pedro Leal and Sebastiao Cunha going over for tries.  Grenho added three conversions.

France, who have been a big disappointment throughout the tournament, finally managed to produce something resembling decent rugby - beating a very ordinary Namibian outfit 36-12. France ran up a 17-0 lead through tries by Yannick Caballero, Yohan Riva and Bruno Hiriart. Namibia came back through tries by Basie Swart and Ronaldo Pedro, but further tries by Bruno Hiriart, Renaud Dulin, Yannick Caballero and Cedric Desbrosse wrapped up the match.

Bowl semi-finals:

Canada, one of the most erratic teams at the tournament, caused another upset when they beat Ireland 24-19 in the first of the Bow semi-finals. Dave Moonlight scored first for Canada, but then Michael McComish, Tomas O'Leary and Niall Ronan score for Ireland to put their team into a commanding lead. But a yellow card against Ireland's Niall Ronan allowed the Canadians to get back into the gamer - with Marco Di Girolamo, Ryan Smith and Justin Mensah-Coker scoring to give the Canadians the hard-earned win.

Scotland gave Australia a big fright with a late comeback, but a failed conversion at the death saw Australia escape with a 26-24 win. Nick Reily opened the scoring for Australia. But then Mark Lee and Alan MacDonald scored to put Scotland in the lead. Nick Reily, the star of the Australian team, scored three more tries which saw the Aussies take a 26-14 lead. Jamie Blackwood and Mark Lee came back with two late Scottish tries, but Clark Laidlaw failed with both conversions - either of which would have seen the game go into extra time.

Quarter-final reports:

Cup quarter-final:

The Kenyan dream came to an abrupt end against the current and five-time IRB Sevens series champions New Zealand in the first match of the Cup quarter-finals.

As was expected it was a bit of one-way traffic, with the Kenyans putting up pockets of brave resistance. But they lacked the skill and raw pace of the Kiwis.

From the moment that Roy Kinikinilau scored in the first minute (converted by Orene Ai'i) the Kenyans were in trouble. And their problems were compounded when Lavin Asego was yellow carded soon afterwards.

Ironically New Zealand lost Tanerau Latimer through a yellow card in the fourth minute, but tries by Liam Messam (2nd minute), Kinikinilau (his second in the fifth minute), Josh Blackie (8th), Ai'i (10th) and Sosene Anesi (12th) saw the Kiwis race to an easy win.

Host South Africa were completely outplayed by a resilient Argentinean team the second quarter-final, with the Pumas recording a 22-12 win - four tries to two.

The South Africans lacked the basic skills to cope with the top teams at this level, with too many turnovers costing the Springboks dearly.

The Pumas opened the scoring with an early try by Lucio Lopez Fleming and the Boks hit back with Jonghikhaya Nokwe score a minute later.

But it all went sour for the hosts when Johan Pietersen was yellow carded in the sixth minute. Two tries and a conversion by Federico Serra Miras during his absence saw the Pumas take a 17-5 lead.

The South Africans came back with a try and conversion from Dale Heidtmann, but another costly turnover gifted Tomas de Vedia the try that sealed the win for the Pumas.

The encounter between Pacific Island rivals Fiji and Samoa went into extra time, before Fiji managed to sneak a 17-12 win with a 'sudden-death' try in an intense quarter-final.

The Fijians opened the scoring, with Watisoni Gonewai going over after the Samoans conceded a penalty just five metres out. The Samoans could not reacted quick enough to the tap-and-go.

The Samoans were again under pressure, but mounted an attack from inside their own 22 late in the first half and when the Fijians conceded a penalty under pressure Samu Eteuati went over from quick tap. The conversion made it 7-5 to Samoa at the break.

The first score after the break came in the second minute, with the Samoans running out of defenders after some good tactical play by the Fijians. Kameli Ratuvou went over and the conversion made it 12-7 to Fiji.

Samoan veteran Brian Lima scored the equalising try after the hooter had already sounded, after they kept the ball for more than a minute. The conversion attempt was a poor effort and the game went into extra time.

The winner came from Fijian flyer Marika Vakacegu inside the first minute of extra time.

Defending champions England simply had too much pace, skill and power for the hopelessly outclassed Tunisians and cruised to a comfortable 52-0 victory - with Ollie Phillips scoring three of his teams' eight tries.

England had by half-time already raced into a 26-0 lead through tries by Paul Sampson, Ollie Phillips (two) and Ben Gollings - with Gollings having converted three of those.

The four touch-downs after the break - against a Tunisian outfit that only put up pockets of resistance - went to Neil Starling, Gollings, Peter Richards and Phillips.

Bowl quarter-final:

In the Bowl quarter-finals Ireland bounced back from their poor first day to beat the erratic Portuguese team 29-17. The Irish outscored their rivals by five tries to three, with Tomas O'Leary collecting two of those.

Canada, another team that would have been disappointed with their performances on the opening day, bounced back strongly to dispose of the Arabian Gulf 36-0. The Canadians scored six tries, with Brodie Henderson and Quentin Fyffe each collecting two.

The third quarter-final in this section was a lot more intense, with Scotland managing to escape with a nail biting 19-15 win over Namibia.

Ryan Witbooi was the Namibian hero, scoring a hat-trick for his team - which matched the three Irish tries scored by Andrew Turnbull, Paul Boston and Rory Couper. But two conversions by Colin Gregor sealed the win for the Irish.

Australia, another of the big disappointments on day one, also managed to start the second day with a win. They compounded the hapless French's problems by beating them 26-14. The Aussies easily outscored the French by four tries to two.

Results on Day 2:

Bowl quarter-finals:
Portugal 17-29 Ireland
Canada 36-0 Arabian Gulf
Scotland 19-15 Namibia
Australia 26-14 France

Cup quarter-finals:
New Zealand 36-0 Kenya
South Africa 12-22 Argentina
Fiji 17-12 Samoa
England 52-0 Tunisia

Shield semi-finals:
Portugal 41-0 Arabian Gulf
Namibia 12-36 France

Bowl semi-finals:
Ireland 19-24 Canada
Scotland 24-26 Australia

Plate semi-finals:
Kenya 10-49 South Africa
Samoa 31-0 Tunisia

Cup semi-finals:
New Zealand 28-14 Argentina
Fiji 19-12 England

Shield Final:
Portugal 17-12 France

Bowl Final:
Canada 12-38 Australia

Plate Final:
South Africa 12-7 Samoa

Cup Final:
New Zealand 33-19 Fiji

By Jan de Koning