LONDON 7s 2015
DAY 2
HIGHLIGHTS
IN a most bizarre day at a gloriously sunny Twickenham, where Japan beat Portugal, Kenya thrashed Samoa, Australia trounced Fiji, the United States put 7 tries on England, and while New Zealand were relegated to the Plate, the USA recorded a 45-22 victory over Australia to lift the Marriott London Sevens Cup final in emphatic style, their first in the history of the HSBC Sevens World Series.
Two tries from Danny Barrett and Maka Unufe helped Mike Friday's side to the win at Twickenham, their first in the history of the Series, where a record 116,219 fans turned out over the two days, leaving them sixth overall in the standings having finished 13th last year.
“It is amazing, credit to those boys the 12 of them have been absolutely fantastic and there are about another 10 back in the USA that have worked their socks off all year, their work effort has been fantastic," said head coach Friday. "I've said to them if you work hard in life then you get the rewards and they've been a credit to their country and their families and I’m proud of every one of them.”
England born and educated USA Captain Madison Hughes, a rugby product of Wellington College who qualifies for the USA through his American mother, added: "It is an absolutely incredible feeling, I remember coming to this tournament as a boy watching from the stands hoping that I could play in it some day. The new management team Mike Friday, Chris Brown and Phil Greening, have revolutionised the way in which we attack rugby, the way in which we train and our rugby lives. There is so much more to come."
Earlier, two tries from Savenaca Rawaca secured Fiji's win over South Africa in the quarter-finals to clinch the series title for the first time since 2006 and only second-ever. Former England coach, Ben Ryan's side went on to beat hosts England 26-12 in the third place play-off before lifting the title.
"I can’t really put it into words, we were just focusing on the South Africa game, but deservedly won and took the title," said Ryan. "The boys were very overly emotional in the changing room and I had to control them a bit and remind them to start smiling and that this is supposed to be fun. It was certainly a topsy turvy weekend. We wanted to go first day unbeaten and finish what we started in Gold Coast."
The top World 7s seeds: Fiji, South Africa, New Zealand and England have all now qualified for the Olympics where Rugby 7s will debut at Rio 2016. However, the pill is bitter sweet for England as they will have to compete as Team GB so both Wales, who have never finished higher than sixth in the World Series and are currently 12th, and Scotland who are this season at their highest ever ranking of 7th, are both eligible to field players. Brazil, ranked 16th, automatically qualify as hosts. The remaining 11 spots for qualification will be decided by from the 7 regional qualifiers: 4 from Europe, 3 from Africa, 3 from Asia, 2 from Oceania, 2 from North America and 2 from South America.
NEW ZEALAND BEAT BLITZBOKS TO PLATE
The defending series champions New Zealand ended the season with a 26-14 victory over South Africa. The Blitzboks still finish second having beaten Scotland 31-7 in the Plate semi-finals, with the season's top try scorer Seabelo Senatla adding two tries to his tally. Sherwin Stowers, DJ Forbes, Dylan Collier and Rieko Ioane scored for Sir Gordon Tietjens' side who finish third in the overall standings.
New Zealand captain DJ Forbes reflected on his side's year: "It was probably an awesome game to watch but it was really hard to play in. Against a good South African side, I guess we can hold our heads high. It's hugely disappointing to finish third overall but that's the way sevens is going - any team can win on its day. We achieved one of our goals though qualifying for Rio."
INJERA'S SIGNATURE SECURES BOWL FOR KENYA
Collins Injera scored his 200th try for Kenya in their 24-12 Bowl quarter-final win over Japan, celebrating in style by signing the ball and camera - the latter being a trait in world tennis, when the champion signs a removable lens; sadly for Injera and the broadcast company, this little flourish will cost £60,000 to replace the actual camera lens.
Injera added two more tries, along with Billy Odhiambo and Dennis Ombachi, as the Kenyans beat Samoa 38-7 in the semi final before proving too strong for Los Pumas 26-12, Injera adding his fourth of the day.
Injera's brother Humphrey Kayange praised Kenya’s spirit as they won the Bowl. “I think that we didn’t start the tournament well yesterday and we let ourselves down but we picked ourselves up today. It was great to see Collins get to 200 tries and we are all massively proud of the work that he has done and contributed to the team.”
SHIELD FINAL: JAPAN V FRANCE
Japan came from 19-0 down to beat France 21-19 in the Shield final, ending their season as a core side on a high with their first piece of silverware of the season. Yoshikazu Fujita, Lote Tuqiri and Lomano Lemeki all scored in the victory.
Japan’s Lemeki praised his side’s heart after finishing with a Shield victory: “It means a lot and although we won’t be here next year it was still good to finish off on a high note. It is on the up, we just have to keep on working hard and if we can get a full 12 core members together and train hard hopefully we’ll be back stronger."
DAY 1
HIGHLIGHTS
HSBC Sevens World Series leaders Fiji will meet second-placed South Africa in an enthralling Cup quarter final at the ninth and final round of the series in London, with a record 77,033 fans in attendance.
With Ben Ryan's side winning all three of their pool matches, achieving a 100% record from their 27 pool matches this season, South Africa's defeat to the USA in front of a record crowd at Twickenham means the top two sides will battle it out on day two in the first quarter final. A win for Fiji will guarantee them a second World Series title in 16 years and first since 2006.
"It will give us an outcome," said head coach Ryan. "I'm pleased we've done the whole season unbeaten in the pool stages, that's a big achievement. We win tomorrow morning, we win the world title - simple as that. It's good to be in control of our own destiny. We are in a Cup final tomorrow, anything after that is irrelevant really."
Third-placed New Zealand, Scotland and USA also maintained 100% records alongside Fiji to set up matches with hosts England, Australia and Canada respectively on day two.
England's safe passage through to the last eight ensured they will finish fourth in the series and guaranteed Team GB's qualification to the Olympic Games next year alongside hosts Brazil, South Africa, Fiji and New Zealand.
Last week's Glasgow champions Fiji had to come from 12-0 and 19-12 behind to record a narrow 24-19 victory over Argentina thanks to two tries each from Samisoni Viriviri and Savenaca Rawaca in their opening match before a Semi Kunatani hat-trick secured a 26-12 win over Samoa. In their pool decider with Canada Amenoni Nasilasila also scored a ht-trick in a 31-14 win.
For South Africa Stephan Dippenaar's double helped the Blitzboks to a 19-0 win against Portugal in the opening match of the Marriott London Sevens before the season's leading try scorer Seabelo Senatla scored twice to beat France 28-7. Their run was ended as USA maintained their 100% record adding a 21-12 victory over the Blitzboks thanks to tries from Garrett Bender, Perry Baker and Carlin Isles to earlier 28-12 and 24-19 wins over Portugal and Les Bleus.
New Zealand's Rieko Ioane scored twice in New Zealand's 38-0 victory over Wales before they avoided a scare from Japan, winning 26-14 despite trailing 7-0 and 14-12. Japan, who failed to make the Cup quarter finals in London, will be relegated from the series and replaced by Russia for the 2015/16 Series. In the defending series champion's third and final match Scott Curry scored twice in their 24-10 win over Australia.
Hosts England celebrated qualification to Rio with a 56-7 victory against Brazil with two tries from Dan Norton, who was appearing in his 50th World Series event on home soil. Earlier Marcus Watson scored twice in their 40-0 win over Kenya, before losing 22-19 to Scotland thanks to a Damian Hoyland hat-trick. Colin Gregor earlier became the all-time leading capped player for Scotland in rugby sevens.
RESULTS
POOL A |
POOL B |
POOL C |
POOL D |
SATURDAY 16th MAY 2015
1. |
09:00 |
SOUTH AFRICA |
19-0 |
PORTUGAL |
POOL D |
||
2. |
09:22 |
UNITED STATES |
24-19 |
FRANCE |
POOL D |
||
3. |
09:44 |
CANADA |
17-14 |
SAMOA |
POOL A |
||
4. |
10:06 |
FIJI |
24-19 |
ARGENTINA |
POOL A |
||
5. |
10:28 |
AUSTRALIA |
41-0 |
JAPAN |
POOL B |
||
6. |
10:50 |
NEW ZEALAND |
38-0 |
WALES |
POOL B |
||
7. |
11:12 |
SCOTLAND |
19-14 |
BRAZIL |
POOL C |
||
8. |
11:34 |
ENGLAND |
40-0 |
KENYA |
POOL C |
||
9. |
12:06 |
SOUTH AFRICA |
28-7 |
FRANCE |
POOL D |
||
10. |
12:28 |
UNITED STATES |
28-12 |
PORTUGAL |
POOL D |
||
11. |
12:50 |
CANADA |
26-5 |
ARGENTINA |
POOL A |
||
12. |
13:12 |
FIJI |
26-12 |
SAMOA |
POOL A |
||
13. |
13:34 |
AUSTRALIA |
19-14 |
WALES |
POOL B |
||
14. |
13:56 |
NEW ZEALAND |
26-14 |
JAPAN |
POOL B |
||
15. |
14:18 |
SCOTLAND |
26-12 |
KENYA |
POOL C |
||
16. |
14:40 |
ENGLAND |
56-7 |
BRAZIL |
POOL C |
||
17. |
15:12 |
FRANCE |
26-19 |
PORTUGAL |
POOL D |
||
18. |
15:34 |
UNITED STATES |
21-12 |
SOUTH AFRICA |
POOL D |
||
19. |
15:56 |
ARGENTINA |
10-19 |
SAMOA |
POOL A |
||
20. |
16:18 |
FIJI |
31-14 |
CANADA |
POOL A |
||
21. |
16:40 |
WALES |
24-21 |
JAPAN |
POOL B |
||
22. |
17:02 |
NEW ZEALAND |
24-10 |
AUSTRALIA |
POOL B |
||
23. |
17:24 |
KENYA |
19-14 |
BRAZIL |
POOL C |
||
24. |
17:46 |
ENGLAND |
19-22 |
SCOTLAND |
POOL C |
SUNDAY 17th MAY 2015
25. |
09:00 |
Samoa |
33-14 |
Portugal |
QF Bowl |
||
26. |
09:22 |
Kenya |
24-12 |
Japan |
QF Bowl |
||
27. |
09:44 |
France |
14-17 |
Argentina |
QF Bowl |
||
28. |
10:06 |
Wales |
29-0 |
Brazil |
QF Bowl |
||
29. |
10:28 |
Fiji |
19-7 |
South Africa |
QF Cup |
||
30. |
10:50 |
Scotland |
19-31 |
Australia |
QF Cup |
||
31. |
11:12 |
United States |
29-10 |
Canada |
QF Cup |
||
32. |
11:34 |
New Zealand |
17-21 |
England |
QF Cup |
Shield Semi Final
Portugal 21 - 26 Japan
Shield Semi Final
France 35 - 12 Brazil
Bowl Semi Final
Samoa 7 - 38 Kenya
Bowl Semi Final
Argentina 29 - 14 Wales
Plate Semi Final
South Africa 31 - 7 Scotland
Plate Semi Final
Canada 15 - 33 New Zealand
Cup Semi Final
Fiji 7 - 33 Australia
Cup Semi Final
United States 43 - 12 England
SHIELD FINAL
JAPAN 21 - 19 France
BOWL FINAL
KENYA 26 - 12 Argentina
PLATE FINAL
South Africa 14 - 26 NEW ZEALAND
THIRD PLACE
FIJI 26 - 12 England
CUP FINAL
Australia 22-45 UNITED STATES
COMPETITION
For your chance to win 4 tickets to the final day of the HSBC Sevens World Series 2014/15, simply CLICK on the image to enter our competition!
TICKETS
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
INTRO
THE Marriott London Sevens 2015 is heading into space! After a phenomenal start to the HSBC Sevens World Series, the rugby is ready to rock and the stadium is ready to roll.
Last year’s Monster theme was a cracking weekend stuffed full of fantastic rugby action, some wild moves, both on and off the field, and some brilliant fancy dress efforts. With record breaking crowds again coming through the turnstiles, surpassing the records set at the 2012 and 2013 events, 2015 has a lot to live up to. The 2014 event again saw more than 113,000 fans head through the gates over the two days including a record breaking sell out crowd of 75,000 crowd on the Saturday.
2015 promises to take you on a ride into galaxies far, far away with weekend of action that is bigger, better and louder!
The London round will again be the final event of the HSBC Sevens World Series, with the action having kicked off in Australia in October, and having already passed through Dubai and South Africa the players are bursting to get going with the ultimate goal of winning in London, and finishing in the top four of the HSBC Sevens World Series to secure the all important qualification for the 2016 Olympics in Rio.
The carnival atmosphere generated by the fans in the stands is almost unrivalled in the Twickenham calendar and with fancy dress galore, coupled with exclusive competitions and unique entertainment.
The tournament, the ninth and final round of the HSBC Sevens World Series, is a competition that pits the finest national sevens sides against each other across nine different tournaments. Each nation scores points based on their performances in these competitions until the season ends in London and one team is crowned as the World Series champions.
This season sees the added incentive for those teams finishing the series in the top four, with qualification for the Olympics in 2016 guaranteed for the top four placed nations, if England qualify in the top four, they will qualify Team GB for the first ever Olympic Sevens tournament.
Reigning champions: New Zealand
Past winners:
2014: New Zealand
2013: New Zealand
2012: Fiji
2011: South Africa
2010: Australia
2009: England
2008: Samoa
2007: New Zealand
2006: Fiji
2005: South Africa
2004: England
2003: England
2002: New Zealand
2001: New Zealand
SCHEDULE & STANDINGS