England rule Dubai once more
England notched up their second consecutive Dubai Sevens title with a 29-12 victory over France on a day which saw big guns New Zealand and South Africa fall by the wayside early on.
Coach Ben Ryan’s charges climb to second in the Sevens World Series standings, seven points behind Gold Coast champions Fiji who they beat in the Cup semifinal in Dubai.
Three nations, New Zealand, France and South Africa, lie three points adrift of England ahead of Round Three in Port Elizabeth next weekend.
The defending champions reached a second successive Dubai Sevens Cup final after beating Fiji 19-12 thanks to tries from Isoa Damu, and Mat Turner, whilst Renaud Delmas scored twice for Les Bleus in their 24-5 victory against Argentina to reach a first Cup final since the 2005 Paris Sevens.
Last week’s Cup winners Fiji defeated Argentina in sudden death extra time in the Bronze final as Livai Ikanikoda scored his second of the match to secure the victory.
Australia’s Lewis Holland scored with the last play of the Plate final to beat South Africa 17-14 whilst Andrew Turnbull was the difference in the Bowl final, scoring a hat-trick to inspire Scotland to a 26-0 victory against USA. Samoa defeated Kenya to lift the Shield for the first time.
Cup:
Defending champions England reached the Cup final after an enthralling semifinal against last weekend’s Gold Coast Sevens winners Fiji.
Isoa Damu, and Mat Turner scored the tries in the 19-12 victory, but a try-saving tackle from flyer Dan Norton on Osea Kolinisau prevented the match from entering sudden death extra time after the buzzer had sounded.
France booked their place in their first Cup final in six years after a 24-5 victory against RWC Sevens runners-up Argentina thanks to two tries from Renaud Delmas.
Earlier, Ryan’s side beat defending Series champions New Zealand, coming from 7-0 behind to win 10-7. Turner and Norton both crossed after Tomasi Cama had given Gordon Tietjens’ side the lead.
France reached their first Cup semifinal since the 2007 USA Sevens after stunning 2008/09 Series champions South Africa 19-5, whilst Argentina beat Wales 7-5 in a repeat of the RWC Sevens Final.
Joaquin Diaz Bonilla’s conversion proved decisive in Argentina’s victory over Wales, after Owen B Williams had given the reigning RWC Sevens champions a 5-0 lead.
Current Series leaders Fiji began the Cup quarterfinals against Australia with a 34-7 victory thanks to two tries from Watisoni Votu and Emosi Vucago, and Joeli Lutumailagi’s seventh try of the tournament.
Final:
England 29-12 France
Semifinal results:
England 19-12 Fiji
France 24-5 Argentina
Quarterfinal Results:
Fiji 34-7 Australia
England 10-7 New Zealand
Wales 5-7 Argentina
South Africa 0-19 France
Plate
Lewis Holland scored a runaway try in the final play of the Plate final to help Australia beat South Africa 17-14 and lift the Plate.
Coach Michael O’Connor’s side had earlier beaten defending Series champions New Zealand 26-12 in the semifinal, inflicting a third successive defeat for the first time in Sevens history on Gordon Tietjens’ team.
Greg Jeloudev, Jesse Parahi, Con Foley and Lewis Holland all scored first-half tries against the defending Series champions whilst South Africa beat Wales 22-7 to reach the final.
Results:
Final:
Australia 17-14 South Africa
Semifinals:
Wales 7-22 South Africa
Australia 26-12 New Zealand
Bowl
Scotland triumphed in the Bowl final 26-0 against USA to remain unbeaten on day two and clinch eight Series points.
New World Series try centurion Andrew Turnbull added three more to his tally to make it 10 for the tournament and captain Colin Gregor rounded off the convincing win.
Earlier, USA progressed to the final with a 33-17 victory against neighbours Canada, while Scotland raced to a 19-0 lead at half-time in theirs before Portugal hit back with three second-half tries, but decisively they were only able to convert once.
Earlier Mike Palefau’s hat-trick helped the USA to a 41-7 victory against Zimbabwe, their second victory against the Cheetahs in five meetings, and Scotland had beaten hosts UAE 40-5.
Final:
Scotland 26-0 United States
Semifinal results:
Scotland 19-17 Portugal
Canada 17-33 United States
Quarterfinal results:
Portugal 24-12 Kenya
Scotland 40-5 UAE
Zimbabwe 7-41 United States
Samoa 17-26 Canada
Shield
Having entered the Shield competition for the first time Samoa ended the Dubai Sevens on a high with a 31-17 victory against Kenya thanks to two tries from Paul Perez and collected three Series points in the process.
In the semifinals Tom Iosefo scored twice in Samoa’s 21-12 semi-final victory against Zimbabwe whilst Kenya beat hosts UAE 35-5.
Final:
Samoa 31-17 Kenya
Semifinal results:
UAE 5-35 Kenya
Samoa 21-12 Zimbabwe
