Match action
ENGLAND’S hopes of earning an elusive gold medal in a major tournament remain alive after a three-try victory over Samoa saw them progress to the quarter-finals in San Francisco.
Several members of England’s squad hold Olympic silver and Commonwealth bronze medals and their dreams of making it a perfect hat-trick started well with a tight 19-17 win over a physical Samoa side to set up a match with the hosts USA in the last eight.
Victory for England dispelled any fears for England captain Tom Mitchell that his side may be knocked out at the first hurdle as part of the World Cup’s new sudden death format.
Mitchell, below, said: “You don’t get any easy games against Samoa – they’re a strong side. We also knew that our first game was going to be tough after a long build-up since our last tournament in Paris,” said Mitchell.
“A lot of good preparation went into that game and the boys rose to the challenge and really fought for each other. We’re really pleased to have come out on the right side of that result.
“There’s a great atmosphere in the stadium and there are a lot of England flags which is great to see as we’re always grateful for that support; it’s a brilliant experience which we’ll be savouring over the next couple of days.”
England were on the backfoot in the early stages and the energised Samoa team followed a succession of brutal carries with the first try of the half to Neria Formai.
England’s response was immediate. From the restart, Dan Norton decided to there was a risk worth taking with a quick lineout option and it paid off as he was able to thread a pass to Phil Burgess to cross over in the corner for 5-5.
Ill-discipline cost Samoa when they were reduced to six men after the referee penalised a high tackle by Belgium Tuatagaloa which allowed England to take a lead into the break with an encouraging passage of play that saw them spread the ball from sideline to sideline for Mike Ellery to dot down in the corner.
After the break at the 100,000-capacity AT&T Park, Samoa cut the deficit to two points through a try by Tuatagaloa to leave the scoreboard showing 12-10.
But Tuatagaloa hopes of redeeming himself from his earlier yellow card would turn to ash, as a second yellow card from the referee left Samoa playing with six players for the remainder of the match.
Just as the speed of Norton had aided Burgess for his try, the wheels of Ollie Lindsay-Hague would put an outmanned and tiring Samoa out of the contest when he turned provider for Richard de Carpentier to carve through for a try, 19-10.
Malu Falaniko scored a consolation try late on.
Scotland reached the quarter-finals with a thrilling comeback victory over Kenya.
Five tries in the final five minutes reversed a 26-0 deficit against the Kenyans, Jamie Farndale scoring in time added on to take the game 31-26.
Scotland started the match brightly but after Jamie Farndale was bundled into touch after some nice build up play it was Kenya who opened the scoring, William Ndayara finishing off a breathless period of play after a incessant opening five minutes.
Kenya added a second before the break through by Collins Injera from distance.
The Kenyans had beaten Tonga earlier in the day to qualify for the last 16 and their match readiness could be seen early in the second half, two tries off the back of Scottish errors from Jeffery Oluoch looked to put the tie to bed.
Scotland weren’t going to go down without a fight and Harvey Elms brushed himself down from being fended off in his attempt to prevent Kenya’s fourth try to collect the kick off and step two defenders to run clear. Captain Scott Riddell then intercepted inside the Kenyan half to score under the posts and the belief in his side began
to grow, 12-26 the score with three minutes to play.
The introduction of Jack Cuthbert saw Scotland dominate the aerial battles at the restart and they began to dominate possession as they had done in the opening exchanges.
Elms continued to threaten and was tackled without the ball chasing a clever kick through. The referee awarded a penalty try and showed the Kenyan defender a yellow card.
With the clock ticking Max McFarland was dragged down short of the line and it looked as though Scotland’s chance had passed, despite the Kenyan’s being reduced to five players.
However, Farndale’s strong finishes under pressure in the corner was followed by a pin-point touchline conversion from Robbie Fergusson to tie the scores at 26-26.
There was still time for one last restart and Scotland showed great skill to claim the ball and patiently build towards the line before Farndale touched down with the hooter already gone.
It is Scotland’s first time in a Sevens World Cup Quarter Final since 2005 and they were due to face South Africa late last night.
Head coach John Dalziel said: “I’m hugely relived. We were staring down the barrel for a while there, but I feel in times like that you find out what you’ve got as a group.”
Wales won their preround of 16 match against Zimbabwe despite conceding two early tries. But they hit back with five of their own through Jared Rosser, Luke Morgan (2), Ben Roach and Cory Allen.
The win sent them into a match against the hosts USA and the home crowd roared the Eagles on to a 350 win.
“We started the game well against USA in a great atmosphere,” said head coach Gareth Williams. “We implemented what we wanted to early on, but we couldn’t make the decisive break to score when we had them under pressure.
“I can’t fault the effort and the ambition of the boys, but USA are a good side who will be tough to beat on their home patch.”
Martin Iosefo grabbed the first for Mike Friday’s USA side before Perry Baker showed his gas with two long range efforts. Danny Barrett and Carlin Isles also scored as the hosts went through the gears to set up a clash with Friday’s old boys, England.
Jimmy O’Brien galloped over with the final play of the game to snatch a dramatic 17-12 victory for Ireland against Chile in their pre-round of 16 clash.
However, they were smashed 45-7 by World Series champions South Africa in the last 16.
The Boks led 19-0 at halftime with Siviwe Soyizwapi on the scoresheet with a personal tally of 20 points. Terry Kennedy scored the only Irish try late on.
Ireland will now face Kenya in the Challenge quarter-final.
Any doubts over a World Sevens Series hangover for runners-up Fiji were promptly banished by a five-star performance from Jerry Tuwai and Co.
Tries off the bench from Semi Radradra and Jasa Veremalua saw Fiji advance with a 35-10 victory over Japan.
That meant a quarterfinal match-up against Argentina awaited Gareth Baber’s side – the Latin American nation downed Canada 28-0 with a resolute display.
Among New Zealand’s cluster of talismen, Joe Ravouvou took the lead to see the All Blacks overcome Russia 29-5.
The monster Kiwi turning on the afterburners to outdo two Russia defenders for the score.
A double from Tavite Veredamu continues the woes of Australia men’s rugby this summer, their 7s team losing 17-22 to France.