NZ retain title on home ground
Hosts New Zealand retained their title with a 24-7 win over arch-rivals Fiji in the Final of the Wellington leg of the IRB Sevens World Series on Saturday.
The win saw the Kiwis take sole lead at the top of the IRB standings – having gone into the Final as joint leaders with Fiji – their 73 points putting them three ahead of the Fijians.
England, who defeated Samoa 21-12 in the third place play-off, collected 17 Series points – which puts them third on 64 overall, three ahead of South Africa. France are a distant fifth on 49.
We bring you all the Day Two action!
CUP
Final
New Zealand have beaten closest rivals Fiji 24-7 to retain their Wellington title and take an outright lead in the Sevens World Series after four of nine rounds.
The kiwis produced an imperious first half display in front of a partisan home crowd, scoring four unanswered tries in the first 10 minutes through Frank Halai (2), Tomasi Cama and captain DJ Forbes, to lead 24-0.
The Fijians scored the sole try of the second half but New Zealand’s defence otherwise held firm to secure a second win on home soil in as many years.
Result:
New Zealand 24-7 Fiji
Third-place play-off:
Christian Lewis-Pratt scored 14 points as England defeated Samoa 21-12 in the third place play-off to collect 17 Series points which puts them on 64 overall, three ahead of South Africa.
Result:
England 21-12 Samoa
Semifinals:
Frank Halai scored the decisive try in sudden-death extra-time as New Zealand booked their place in the Cup Final, after a dramatic 17-12 victory against England.
The hosts came from 0-12 behind at half-time thanks to tries from Charles Piutau, Hosea Gear and Halai and now face joint Series leaders Fiji in the Final.
Fiji proved too strong for their Pacific rivals Samoa, winning 28-5 in their semifinal thanks to two tries from Metuisela Talebula, adding to an earlier 21-5 victory against South Africa.
Results:
Samoa 5-28 Fiji
New Zealand 17-12 England
Quarterfinals:
The defending champions and hosts, New Zealand, defeated France 22-7 in the day’s first Cup quarterfinal. Despite conceding the first try to Renaud Delmas, the reigning Series champions crossed four times to book their place in the semifinals.
Following their impressive form on day one, unbeaten Tonga’s reward for finishing top of Pool C was a quarterfinal with Dubai Sevens Cup winners England, which they lost 26-7, Mat Turner scoring two tries in the match for Ben Ryan’s side.
Lolo Lui scored all of Samoa’s 15 points in their quarterfinal against Canada, two first-half tries and a decisive penalty drop-goal in sudden-death extra-time, after Nathan Hirayama’s conversion had leveled the scores at 12-12 on the stroke of full-time.
Results:
South Africa 5-21 Fiji
Canada 12-15 Samoa
Tonga 7-26 England
New Zealand 22-7 France
PLATE
Final:
Two Cecil Afrika tries helped South Africa beat Tonga 24-0 in the Plate final to collect 13 Series points.
They reached the final after a 21-19 victory against Canada in the semis whilst Tonga joined them by beating Dubai Sevens runners-up France in the first semifinal.
Result:
Tonga 0-24 South Africa
Semifinals:
Tonga reached the Plate Final after beating Dubai Sevens runners-up France in the first semifinal and will face South Africa after Paul Treu’s side recorded a 21-19 victory against Canada.
Results:
Canada 19-21 South Africa
France 7-15 Tonga
BOWL
Final:
Kenya followed up their much-improved form on day one by winning the Bowl final with a fine 12-7 victory against Australia, a rematch of their pool match on day one which the Kenyans also won.
Brothers Collins Injera and Humphrey Kayange both scored in the final, ensuring they maintained their 100% record on day two and collected eight Series points, their best performance this season.
Result:
Kenya 12-7 Australia
Semifinal:
Kenya followed up their much-improved form on day one by winning through to the Bowl Final with a fine 17-7 win against Wales. Captain Sidney Ashioya was among the scorers after he had inspired the side to victory in the quarterfinal against Scotland.
In that Final Kenya will face Australia in a rematch of their pool game on day one, which the Kenyans won. Australia booked their place in the Final with a 24-12 victory over Argentina.
Results:
Australia 24-12 Argentina
Kenya 17-7 Wales
Quarterfinal results:
Cook Islands 0-28 Argentina
Australia 33-5 Japan
Wales 10-0 United States
Scotland 5-14 Kenya
SHIELD
Final:
Scotland collected the first silverware at the Hertz Sevens to collect three Series points, beating the Cook Islands 19-17 in the Shield final thanks to two tries from captain Colin Gregor and a last minute clincher from Michael Fedo.
Result:
Scotland 19-17 Cook Islands
Semifinals:
Scotland will face the Cook Islands in the Final of the Shield competition after a 14-12 victory against the USA in the semifinals. The Cooks proved too strong for Japan, recording a 17-10 victory their semifinal.
Results:
Japan 10-17 Cook Islands
Scotland 14-12 United States
