Australia Gollings’ men face hosts in Cape Town 7s reigns supreme

AFTER a dismal performance by the Fiji mens 7s team in Dubai over the weekend, Ben Gollings will have a tough task to prepare his side which is pooled with hosts South Africa this week.

South Africa won the Dubai title for the fourth straight time defeating Ireland 21-5 in the final yesterday.

Fiji, South Africa, France

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and Canada are in Group A of the Cape Town 7s.

In Pool B Dubai tournament finalist Ireland will face Samoa, Uruguay and Japan.

New Zealand will lead Pool C with Argentina, Kenya

and Spain

Pool D will see USA, HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series defending champion Australia, Great Britain and Uganda battling out for a position in the quarter-finals..

Meanwhile, the Saiasi Fuli-coached Fijiana side is pooled with New Zealand, Great Britain and Brazil.

Dubai 7s champion and series winner Australia is in Pool A with Ireland, Spain and hosts South Africa.

USA is in Pool C with France, Canada and Japan.

AUSTRALIA’S women began their HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series title defence on a winning note as they claimed an unprecedented hat-trick of titles in Dubai with a 26-19 victory against their closest rivals New Zealand.

Meanwhile, South Africa’s men made it four Dubai titles in a row with a 21-5 win against Ireland underlining their dominance in the desert. Having missed out on the medals in the first tournament of the World Series in Hong Kong last month, it was a timely response from the Blitzboks with qualification for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games determined by the standings at the season’s end.

In the bronze medal matches, it was one win and one defeat for the USA, who lost to New Zealand in the men’s competition but saw off France in the women’s.

Fiji’s men, runners-up in Hong Kong a month ago, could only finish ninth and are currently outside of the top four places guaranteed to secure teams’ automatic entry to the Paris extravaganza, although with nine rounds left to play there is still plenty of time for them to make up lost ground.

Queens of the desert

For Australia’s women, the Dubai tournament saw a continuation of the form that took them to not only the World Series crown but also the Commonwealth Games and Rugby World Cup Sevens gold medals.

“Our coaches say we are queens of the desert, we thrive off heat, so for us, it was just a golden win,” said player of the final, Madison Ashby.

It was the 19th World Series Cup final between Australia and New Zealand with the Black Ferns Sevens looking to tip the balance back in their favour after being on the wrong side of recent results.

Michaela Blyde had a steely-eyed look about her during the national anthems and she was right up for the occasion but her hat-trick was in vain as all-conquering Australia celebrated yet another trophy.

Putting on a performance of pace and power, Australia always had the edge over their fiercest rivals and tries from Sharni Williams, who also kicked three conversions, Faith Nathan, Maddison Levi and Demi Hayes saw them home.

Levi’s try in the final took her to the top of the all-time Dubai try-scorers chart, on 11.

Co-captain Demi Hayes said: “It was always going to be a tough final, and credit to them, they are such a good opposition. So for us to come out on top today, it was a good win.”

First-half power play from Blitzboks

In the men’s final, Ireland were no match for defending champions South Africa in what was only their second Cup final.

South Africa were beaten by Great Britain in their opening match on day one and had to come from behind in the quarter-final and semi-final, having left it late to qualify for the Cup knockout stages in the first place, before taking centre stage in front of a full house at The Sevens Stadium.

However, the final against Ireland was a much more comfortable affair, the Blitzboks easing to a 21-5 win after scoring three converted tries before the break.

Player of the match, Shilton van Wyk side-stepped his way through the Ireland defensive line and sped away to score within 20 seconds of the first whistle and then added another before a Siviwe Soyizwapi intercept left Ireland with it all to do.

An Ireland comeback never really materialised due to South Africa’s vaster experience at this level and astute game management and Jack Kelly’s try on 11 minutes was scant consolation.

“I am very proud of the boys, I think the camp coming into this one was different and we really stuck together as a group and today and the weekend has shown how much we have fought for each other,” said Blitzboks captain Soyizwapi. Men’s semi-final round-up Initially, precious little was seen of the two speedsters, Jordan Conroy and double World Rugby Men’s Sevens Player of the Year Perry Baker in a physical encounter between Ireland and the USA. Neither team was able to get their danger men into the game in the first half which produced just the one try. Zac Ward handed Ireland the lead when he stepped through Kevon Williams’ attempted tackle, Mark Roche adding the conversion to make it 7-0 at the break.

A few minutes into the second half, though, the USA were able to get the ball in Baker’s hands in time and space and the ageless 36-year-old cruised home. In scoring his 235th World Series try, Baker drew level with New Zealand’s Tim Mikkelson in third on the all-time, tryscoring charts. Steve Tomasin nailed his conversion and the scores remained 7-7 at the hooter.

Five minutes of tense play passed in the golden point, extra-time period with both sides coughing up possession. But the game-changing moment came when Baker threw a forward pass on his own 22 and Ireland struck from the resulting scrum, Roche putting his side through to their first-ever Dubai Cup final, 12-7.

The semi-final between New Zealand and South Africa lived up to expectations as the Blitzboks came back from 12-0 down at half-time to win 26-19.

New Zealand attacked the guts of the South African defence from the off and a couple of midfield breaks, firstly from Tone Ng Shiu and then Leroy Carter, led to tries for Caleb Tangitau. Tangitau was then denied a first-half hat-trick in stoppage time when Siviwe Soyizwapi managed to get underneath the explosive teenager and prevent him grounding the ball over the line.

Within 20 seconds of the restart, the Blitzboks hit back through Muller du Plessis before World Series debutant Ricardo James Duarttee continued his superb introduction to the circuit with their second. New Zealand responded brilliantly, scoring from inside their 22.

Che Clarke’s quarterback-style pass and Regan Ware’s brilliant offload led to Akuila Rokolisoa racing clear and the All Blacks Sevens had the lead again. Branco du Preez’s try levelled the scores at 19-19 but Duarttee was unsuccessful with the conversion and it looked as though the game was heading until extra-time until Shilton van Wyk dived over deep into stoppage time after New Zealand were made to pay for Amanaki Nicole’s yellow card.

Women’s semi-final round-up

As the sun started to set over The Sevens Stadium, it was USA who were left chasing shadows in the first women’s semi-final against New Zealand.

The Black Ferns Sevens dominated possession in a one-sided encounter that began with another try for Michaela Blyde, who exploited an over-chase in defence to finish off a flowing move that stretched the USA on the edges. The USA then invited more pressure on themselves with an error on their own goalline and New Zealand quickly capitalised to score again through Kelly Brazier.

In addition to conceding, the USA suffered another blow when Sammy Sullivan was yellow-carded for foul play after Brazier had grounded the ball. With seven players on the field, the USA had found it hard to keep their opponents at bay let alone with six, and New Zealand crossed the line for a third time before the half was out, Shiray Kaka benefitting from Jazmin Felix-Hotham’s welltimed pass.

Kaka added her second shortly after the restart, to take the score up to 24-0, before returning the compliment and coming up with an assist for Felix-Hotham. The Women’s Sevens Eagles spent almost the entirety of the second half in their own territory and New Zealand