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HONG KONG 7s 2016
FIJI won the Cathay Pacific/Hong Kong Sevens after beating New Zealand for a second year running at the prestigious tournament.
Ben Ryan's side walked away with the Cup following a bruising 20 minute encounter with the All Blacks Sevens in front of packed out stands in Hong Kong. Pita Ahki got Sir Gordon Tietjens side off to a flying start when he turned Jerry Tuwai inside out and ran in under the posts. However just minutes later Tuwai got his revenge as he sniped over the New Zealand line from three metres away. With the rain starting to fall, handling errors were plentiful from both sides and the first half ended 7-7.
Kitione Taliga scored early on in the second half for Fiji after Semi Kunatani made a striding break through the stretched New Zealand defence. At 14-7, Fiji then turned up the pressure even more as Pio Tuwai turned over possession on Fiji's 22 and let Amenoni Nasilasila loose, who eventually offloaded to send Semi Kunatani under the posts and secure the victory.
Elsewhere in the competition South Africa edged Australia to finish third, England beat USA to take the plate, Argentina beat Scotland to the bowl and Russia overcame Canada to lift the plate.
In the first Cup quarter-final New Zealand proved too strong for Wales after speedster Kurt Baker bagged a thrilling hat-trick to help Sir Gordon Tietjens' side to a 19-7 win.
Despite going unbeaten in the Pool stages, USA were unable to score a point against South Africa in the second quarter-final as the wet weather made conditions trickier by the minute. A brace of tries from Blitzboks flyer Seabelo Senatla, added to by scores from Ruhan Nel and Siviwe Soyizwapi gave head coach Neil Powell's side a 28-0 win.
A last minute try from Savenaca Rawaca and conversion from Osea Kolinisau grabbed Fiji a win at the death against Kenya in the third Cup quarter-final. An opening try by Fiji star Kitione Taliga was soon cancelled out by Collins Injera but as the wet conditions continued to shape the game, it was Fiji's slick handling that allowed Rawaca over for the decisive try.
Some solid defence from Australia on their own try line was crucial to their 14-5 win over England in the final Cup quarter-final. Tries from Cameron Clark and Stephan van der Walt, compounded by two kick from James Stannard gave Australia the lead and despite a try from Dan Norton England were unable to claw back a victory.
In the bowl quarter-finals, France breezed past South Korea 45-0, while Argentina scored 22 unanswered points against Russia. A tight match between Canada and Samoa resulted in a 19-10 win for the Pacific Islanders. Scotland managed a 5-0 win over Portugal in torrential conditions.
In the Cup semi-finals, New Zealand beat South Africa 12-7, while Fiji trounced Australia 34-5, setting up the thrilling Cup Final encounter.
SEVEN of the top eight teams in the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series standings have made it into the Cup quarter-finals after a thrilling second day of action in Hong Kong.
POOL A
1 
2 
3 
4 
POOL B
1 
2 
3 
4 
POOL C
1 
2 
3 
4 
POOL D
1 
2 
3 
4 
In the Cup quarter-finals New Zealand will play Wales and USA play South Africa, while defending champions Fiji take on Kenya and England face Australia.
FANTASTIC FOUR THROUGH TO SERIES QUALIFIER SEMIS
AMID high drama at the Hong Kong Stadium the hosts delighted the crowd by booking their place in Sunday's series qualifier semi-finals with a shock 12-7 win against Spain in sudden death extra time.
Hong Kong now play impressive Germany, who came from behind to beat Morocco 19-14 in their quarter-final late on day two.
In the other half of the draw Zimbabwe, who lost last year's final to Russia, came from behind to beat Chile and they now face favourites Japan, who overcame Tonga 33-0 and are still to concede a point in the competition.
With only one promotion place on offer more drama is guaranteed on Sunday as all four remaining teams set out to emulate the feats of Russia (2015) and Japan (2014) in winning the prized 15th core team place on the HSBC World Rugby.
ON the day that James Rodwell matched Frankie Horne's marathon record of 68 consecutive world series tournaments, England are inspired to the result of the day against South Africa.
Under the lights of a packed Hong Kong Stadium, crowd favourites England ended a fine first day at the Cathay Pacific / HSBC Hong Kong Sevens by beating South Africa 21-14 to take a welcome confidence boost into day two.
Trailing Fiji by only one point in the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, South Africa were widely tipped to win the last match of the day but from the outset they faced a focused and disciplined England boosted by the fitness of captain Tom Mitchell and the return to form of Dan Norton.
POOL A
Kenya signalled their intent early on with a powerful four-try win against Samoa and in the other match in the pool New Zealand came back from 17-0 against a Virimi Vakatawa-inspired France to win 19-17.
POOL B
While England's heroics stole the headlines at the end of the day, Scotland's earlier 28-15 win against Russia means that they top the group ahead of England with the remaining pool matches to be played on day two.
POOL C
Captain Ed Jenkins scored his 100th try and put in a star turn for the series' fourth-ranked team Australia as they enjoyed a resounding 28-0 win against Argentina. The season's fifth-placed side USA lies second in the pool after a 21-5 win against Portugal.
POOL D
Semi Kunatani's converted try at the death got Fiji out of jail against Canada but their 19-17 win currently places them second in the pool behind Wales, who beat Korea 40-14.
Long before Samoa and Kenya tok centre stage at the Hong Kong Stadium, the race for the one promotion place onto the 2016-17 series began between 12 regional qualifiers.
Last year Zimbabwe's hearts were broken at the death by Vladimir Ostroushko, whose try after the hooter booked Russia onto this year's series as full-time tourists.
This year's qualifier draw looks stronger than ever. Hosts Hong Kong line up with Germany, Zimbabwe and the Cayman Islands; former series core side Spain are pooled with Papua New Guinea, Chile and Mexico, while last year's relegated series team Japan start with matches against Olympic hosts Brazil, Tonga and Morocco.
FRIDAY 8th APRIL 2016 |
|||||||
| 1 | 18:10 |
SAMOA |
 |
0-24 |
 |
KENYA |
POOL A |
| 2 | 18:32 |
WALES |
 |
40-14 |
 |
KOREA |
POOL D |
| 3 | 18:54 |
USA |
 |
21-5 |
 |
PORTUGAL |
POOL C |
| 4 | 19:16 |
SCOTLAND |
 |
28-15 |
 |
RUSSIA |
POOL B |
| 5 | 19:44 |
NEW ZEALAND |
 |
19-17 |
 |
FRANCE |
POOL A |
| 6 | 20:06 |
FIJI |
 |
19-17 |
 |
CANADA |
POOL D |
| 7 | 20:28 |
AUSTRALIA |
 |
28-0 |
 |
ARGENTINA |
POOL C |
| 8 | 20:50 |
SOUTH AFRICA |
 |
14-21 |
 |
ENGLAND |
POOL B |
SATURDAY 9th APRIL 2016 |
|||||||
9 |
11:18 |
SAMOA |
24-12 |
FRANCE |
POOL A |
||
10 |
11:40 |
NEW ZEALAND |
5-0 |
KENYA |
POOL A |
||
11 |
12:02 |
WALES |
24-10 |
CANADA |
POOL D |
||
12 |
12:24 |
FIJI |
57-0 |
KOREA |
POOL D |
||
13 |
12:48 |
USA |
26-14 |
ARGENTINA |
POOL C |
||
14 |
13:10 |
AUSTRALIA |
45-7 |
PORTUGAL |
POOL C |
||
15 |
13:32 |
SCOTLAND |
0-19 |
ENGLAND |
POOL B |
||
16 |
13:54 |
SOUTH AFRICA |
50-0 |
RUSSIA |
POOL B |
||
17 |
15:18 |
FRANCE |
17-10 |
KENYA |
POOL A |
||
18 |
15:40 |
NEW ZEALAND |
28-10 |
SAMOA |
POOL A |
||
19 |
16:02 |
CANADA |
31-14 |
KOREA |
POOL D |
||
20 |
16:24 |
FIJI |
36-10 |
WALES |
POOL D |
||
21 |
16:48 |
ARGENTINA |
24-0 |
PORTUGAL |
POOL C |
||
22 |
17:10 |
AUSTRALIA |
7-22 |
USA |
POOL C |
||
23 |
17:32 |
ENGLAND |
12-12 |
RUSSIA |
POOL B |
||
24 |
17:54 |
SOUTH AFRICA |
31-0 |
SCOTLAND |
POOL B |
||
Shield Semi Final (33)
Korea 7 - 29 Russia
Shield Semi Final (34)
Canada 19 - 5 Portugal
Bowl Semi Final (35)
France 7 - 14 Argentina
Bowl Semi Final (36)
Samoa 14 - 19 Scotland
Plate Semi Final (37)
Wales 0 - 27 USA
Plate Semi Final (38)
Kenya 0 - 33 England
Cup Semi Final (39)
New Zealand 12 - 7 South Africa
Cup Semi Final (40)
Fiji 34 - 5 Australia
SHIELD FINAL
RUSSIA 19 - 14 Canada
BOWL FINAL
ARGENTINA 26 - 0 Scotland
PLATE FINAL
USA 0 - 19 ENGLAND
THIRD PLACE
SOUTH AFRICA 14 - 12 Australia
CUP FINAL
New Zealand 7 - 21 FIJI
POOL A |
POOL B |
POOL C |
POOL D |
THE pools for round seven of the Cathay Pacific/HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series have been confirmed, alongside the core team qualifier competition set to take place in Hong Kong.
Canada Sevens winners New Zealand head Pool A and will face Samoa, France and Kenya, while series leaders and defending champions Fiji will meet Wales, in a repeat of the 2013 final, Canada and Korea.
Runners-up in Canada, South Africa await Scotland, England and Russia, while Australia meet USA, Argentina and Portugal in Pool C.
As well as the main competition, there is also a 12-team tournament with the winner qualifying as a core team for the 2016-17 Series, which was won by Russia in 2015 and Japan in 2014.
The Qualifier teams are Morocco and Zimbabwe (Africa), Hong Kong and Japan (Asia), Germany and Spain (Europe), Cayman Islands and Mexico (North America), Brazil and Chile (South America) and Papua New Guinea and Tonga (Oceania).
Alongside debutants the Cayman Islands, Germany appears for the first time since 1992, and could receive an emotional boost from the recent announcement of David Hasselhoff’s appearance at this year’s tournament. Hasselhoff is highly regarded in the country where his 1989 New Year concert at the Berlin Wall was attended by hundreds of thousands of Germans.
For the 12-team Qualifier draw, the teams were banded into four groups of three teams each by World Rugby, based on their performances on the Series and at other international sevens events over the preceding two years.
Pool E features Zimbabwe, hosts Hong Kong, Germany and debutants the Cayman Islands. Pool F comprises Spain, Chile, Papua New Guinea and Mexico, while lining up in Pool G are Japan, Tonga, Brazil and Morocco.
“With the top 15 teams here, and the Rio Olympics just around the corner, the Hong Kong Sevens is going to be even more exciting than usual," said Hong Kong coach and former Wales sevens international Gareth Baber.
“In the Hong Kong team, it’s always our aim to get into semi-finals and finals. We did it in the qualifying for Rio against Japan but we’ve not been able to do the same at the last two Hong Kong Sevens. So that’s our ambition this time.”
TWO days out from round seven of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, tournament hosts the Hong Kong Rugby Union counted down to the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens by bringing together all 28 team captains and the leading coaches.
With four of the 10 rounds remaining, the series race could not be tighter: defending Hong Kong champions Fiji arrive as series leaders on 106 points, just one ahead of second-placed South Africa, who are in turn one point clear of New Zealand. A resurgent Australia and an emerging USA complete the top five.
"It's amazing how time has flown by. It only seems like yesterday that it was the start of the series and now today we are four months away from the Olympic Games, which is hugely exciting," said Fiji coach Ben Ryan.
"We're here in Hong Kong and this is a mini peak for everyone I'm sure, a bit of a dress rehearsal for the Olympics, a litmus test to see if everything we're looking to do is falling into place. I think every other team is going to be looking for a win in Hong Kong, to give them that confidence to know that when the pressure comes on you can deliver. So far the boys are in great shape and they want to defend their title this weekend."
Fiji captain Osea Kolinisau added: "The week so far in Hong Kong has been good and we have been able to work on some things in training that we wanted to improve on from Vancouver. It was a short turnaround from Vancouver but we can’t complain too much about that. Hong Kong is here now and every team has had the same turnaround, but it’s definitely going to be a tough one this weekend."
Hong Kong again welcomes 28 teams to the largest event of the season, playing host to the 16-team HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series competition and a 12-team series qualifier featuring two teams from each of World Rugby's six regions, the winner of which will be promoted to next year’s series, following in the footsteps of Russia in 2015.
"This (series) qualifying tournament is getting tougher every year. You just have to look at the quality of the likes of Japan, Spain, Brazil, Zimbabwe - all teams who have had a go on the World Series this year and played against the top teams. That's what we're all after. We've prepared well, the boys have worked hard but with home advantage comes an added pressure in terms of expectation," said Hong Kong coach Gareth Baber.
Four months out from rugby sevens’ Olympic debut, this year's Hong Kong tournament also provides an interesting insight for many of the teams. While all 11 Rio-qualified men’s teams will play over the weekend, Asia's showpiece event also hosts 11 of the 16 teams set to battle for the one remaining place in the men's draw for Rio, at the repechage play-off in Monaco at the end of June.
Across the three days in Hong Kong 120,000 spectators are expected to attend, which will push the total attendance on this year's series past half a million spectators.
"By every measure this has been the biggest and best series to date," said World Rugby's Competitions and Events Manager for Sevens, Douglas Langley.
"It is no coincidence that this weekend already we will pass 500,000 spectators, and ultimately smash the total attendance record for the season by close to 150,000. And what a spectacle the fans have watched. All the teams and athletes continue to do the sport proud."
