Fiji clinch IRB Sevens title

Fiji secured the IRB Sevens title after overcoming a spirited Kenyan side in the quarter-finals of the Cup competition at the London Sevens at sunny Twickenham on Sunday, the final leg of 2005/6 IRB Sevens series.

Clincher: Neumi Nanuku of Fiji gets past Kenya's Lavin Asego

England, second in the standings going into the weekend, needed the Fijians to fail to even make the Plate Final to have a chance of overhauling a 14-point deficit.

No such luck!

Waisale Serevi's troops subdued the energetic Africans by recording a 33-14 win and duly claimed the first world title of their illustrious history, adding the IRB Sevens title to the Sevens World Cup trophy that they claimed last year.

And they celebrated their coronation in the only way they know how - by clinching the London Sevens title with a thumping 54-14 win in the Cup Final.

DAY TWO - SCHEDULE/RESULTS

CUP QUARTER-FINALS:

Fiji have confirmed themselves as the new IRB Sevens champions after winning through to the Cup semi-final of the London Sevens.

Serevi's men proved too strong for Kenya in their Cup quarter-final and will now play New Zealand - the side they have dethroned as series title holders - in the semis after Gordon Tietjens's side got the better of Argentina.

Samoa and England will contest the second Cup semi-final after respective wins over South Africa and France.

M29: Fiji 33-14 Kenya 
M30: New Zealand 19-7 Argentina 
M31: South Africa 14-24 Samoa 
M32: England 14-7 France 

CUP SEMI-FINALS:

New Zealand's season was punctuated by the men who pinched their crown - and the new world champions added salt to the wound by snatching victory out of the jaws of defeat with a try in injury-time.

Injury-hit England then bowed out with a 15-7 loss to Samoa.

Samoa's Ofisa Treviranus got the only score of a tense first half. Timoteo Iosua added Samoa's second just after the break with a neat chip and gather.

The leading IRB Sevens try-scorer of the season then dotted down another after collecting a perfect crossfield kick. Dave Strettle then lifted his weary side with a try but it was too little too late.

M39: Fiji 21-17 New Zealand 
M40: Samoa 15-7 England

CUP FINAL:

Fiji celebrated their coronation in the only way they know how - by clinching the London Sevens title with a thumping 54-14 win in the Cup Final.

But it was all Samoa in the early stages of the game; Jerry Meafou got over the whitewash for an early try after several miss-tackles from the world champs.

Fiji fell further behind when Mikaele Senio used his strength to get across in the corner.

Sireli Naqelevuki then lead the Fijian response, barging down the middle of the pitch to get his side within striking distance. Lepani Nabuliwaqa took the cue, chipping ahead and chasing up for the score.

Samoa hit back immediately with Timoteo Iosua finishing off a move he created. The teenager from Apia is proving to be a class act.

Nabuliwaqa then hit back with his second, bursting through a line-out before reaching over the line, and Samoa went to the break nursing a 15-14 lead.

Samoa almost got across the line from the restart but a knock-on got Fiji out of jail and spurred them into action.

The world champs then tried their hand at soccer, hacking all the way down the field before Keneti Tofilau got mitts to the ball and scored.

Naqelevuki was soon across for another try and Samoan heads went down when Neumi Nanuku crossed moments later.

Serevi, Fiji's imperious leader, then joined the fray. A wave of the wand and he had sent Nanuku through, but he gave his try to Jerry Meafou in reward for the big man's efforts in keeping up with play.

Semisi Naevo Saukawa then flopping over as did Nasoni Roko who benefited from Filimoni Bolavucu's blistering break.

Fittingly, it was Serevi who completed the rout - the master slotted the conversion with the last kick of the game.

Never did the marker-pen message on his jersey ring more true - "Phil 4:13", I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

M44: Fiji 54-14 Samoa

PLATE SEMI-FINAL:

Kenya and South Africa won through to the Plate Final with respective wins over Argentina and France.

Kenya were inspired against the Pumas and ran out 19-14 winners before Danwell Demas sparked a South African revival and Phillip Burger's last-minute try sealed their win against the French.

M37: Kenya 19-14 Argentina 
M38: South Africa 19-14 France 

PLATE FINAL:

Kenya, the darlings of the Twickenham crowd, were unable to replicate the form that saw them defeat Argentina - they fell foul of the clinical South Africans in the final of the Plate competition.

Jaco Pretorius scooted over for an early try, before Gio Aplon gifted Stefan Basson a five-pointer. Pretorius then crossed for his second to leave the Kenyans 21-0 adrift at the break.

Danwell Demas, Sarel Potgieter and Ryno Benjamin all crossed for tries in a scrappy second half.

Kenya's John Otieno clawed back a consolation try at the death despite shouts of 'forward pass' from the men in Green and Gold. Yes, the ref was perhaps also guilty of falling for the charms of the East Africans, but who could blame him?

M43: Kenya 7-42 South Africa

BOWL QUARTER-FINALS:

There were no surprises as Portugal, Scotland, Russia and Australia all won through to the Bowl semi-finals, but each side had to fight hard for their wins - indeed, the latter three all finished within a try of their opponents.

M25: Portugal 26-10 Germany 
M26: Scotland 24-19 Canada 
M27: Russia 10-5 Tunisia 
M28: Australia 19-5 Italy 

BOWL SEMI-FINALS:

Russia and Portugal will stage the unlikeliest of finals after Igor Galinovskiy's hat-trick inspired Russia to beat rugby superpower Australia 21-5, and Antonio de Aguilar's brace ensured that Portugal got the better of Scotland 24-12 in their semi-final.

M35: Portugal 24-12 Scotland 
M36: Russia 21-5 Australia 

BOWL FINAL:

Portugal clinched the Bowl courtesy of an emphatic 45-0 victory over Russia in the final.

The crowd's chants of 'Igor! Igor!' - in reverence to the hero of the win over Australia - could not lift Russia, and Portugal rounded off another fine season with another piece of silverware.

Tries from Paulo Murinello, Diogo Mateus, Pedro Leal and Aderito Esteves left the half-time score reading 26-0 and any chance of a Russian revolution seemed lost.

Antonio de Aguilar and Tiago Girão crossed the whitewash after the break, as did Leal for his second.

M42: Portugal 45-0 Russia 

SHIELD SEMI-FINALS:

Canada and Italy won through to the final of the Shield with wins over Germany 29-17 and Tunisia 41-0.

M33: Germany 17-29 Canada 
M34: Tunisia 0-41 Italy 

SHIELD FINAL:

Italy won the Shield after coming from behind to beat Canada in extra time.

Two tries from Canada's Phil MacKenzie looked to have won the game, but Italy drew level with two superb long-distance tries from Marco Stanojevic and Ludovico Nitoglia, a member of the full Azzurri side.

But the Canadians spilt the ball in the first minute of extra-time and Italy worked Alvaro Lopez Gonzales into the corner to complete the great escape.

M41: Canada 12-17 Italy 

With thanks to the IRB