Champs Borneo Eagles into semis
The Borneo Eagles bounced back from an early scare in the group stage to book their place in the Borneo Sevens Men’s Cup semifinal in Sandakan yesterday.
SANDAKAN: The Borneo Eagles bounced back from an early scare in the group stage to book their place in the Borneo Sevens Men's Cup semifinal here yesterday.
The defending champions opened their title defence with a 33-0 win over Thailand but lost the top spot in Group A to fellow tournament favourites ICONZ of Australia who won 21-19.
A second placing however was enough to put them through to the Cup quarter-finals but waiting for them is another Aussie side, the Group B winners Tribe 7s.
It also meant the Borneo Eagles and Tribe 7s renewed their rivalries after facing off in last year's title match that the former won.
And the fact that the current Borneo Eagles team comprise new set of players from the winning side last year had only brought much excitement to arguably the highlight of yesterday's game.
Any doubts on the Borneo Eagles however vanished once the match got underway at the Eagles Sports Arena where they showed their class against Tribe 7s.
In what was a very tight and physical match, the Borneo Eagles found their breakthrough midway into the first half through Brody Morris Lam's try and a successful conversion from Vuga Makaitolu Tagicakibau.
In the second period, the Borneo Eagles made it 14-0 with Epeli Sigalele Lotawa's try and another conversion from Vuga shortly after the restart.
Brody than put the game beyond the reach of Tribe 7s with his second try of the match and cemented the Borneo Eagles place in the Cup semifinals with a final score of 19-0.
The Borneo Eagles will face Sri Lanka in the Cup last four after the latter clinched a sudden death extra time win over Mellowpuff Barbarians.
Sri Lanka and the Mellowpuff Barbarians were tied at 19-all in regulation time but the former scored a try and conversion in the extra time for a 26-19 win.
The other Men's Cup semifinals will see ICONZ taking on Hong Kong Dragons.
ICONZ showed their title credentials when they blanked the Malaysia 7s side 40-7 while Hong Kong Dragons edged Sabah Eagles 29-7.
Meanwhile, the Men's Plate semifinals will see Malaysia 7s taking on Sabah Eagles and the Mellowpuff Barbarians meeting Tribe 7s.
As for the Men's Bowl semifinals, Thailand will face Sabah Sukma while Tawau Rugby meet Belgium Barbarians.
The final day of the international club rugby tournament will be played today starting at 9:30am with the last match of the tournament featuring the Men's Cup final scheduled at 5:30pm.