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It's was an interesting day of rugby 7s in Moscow at the 2nd leg of the FIRA Grand Prix Sevens. Last weeks victors England had a mixed bag of results after making life difficult for themselves in losing to Portugal (28.21) and drawing with the homeside Russia (14.14) who were the plate winners in Lyon.

Wales had a tough tournament in France and the young welsh squad faced further stiff competition this weekend in the Russian capital. In the opening game of pool B, they were unable to break down a physical Romanian side as they battled out a draw (26.26) before later losing to last weekend finalists in Spain, who showed their experience in taking victory (26.19)

It was not all bad for the home nations as both recorded 2 victories, with England defeating Netherlands (48.5) and Italy (33.5) whilst Wales took victory against Ukraine (29.7) and a strong performance against a high quality french team (24.21)

England's free scoring against the Dutch and Italians places them in 2nd in Pool A with a game to play tomorrow against bottom of the table, Moldova. As long as England win their final group game, they look to be favourites to go through to the semi-final. The situation for Wales is less complicated as they take on Georgia, who currently sit in 2nd place with the 1 loss to the in-form Spaniards. If Wales defeated the hard tackling Georgians tomorrow morning, they will go through to the semi-finals where they will take on Portugal.

The story of the day though was the form of the meditterean countries; Spain and Portugal as they both won all 4 of their games and sit atop of their respective pools. Both teams showed promise last week in Lyon with Spain making the final and Portugal falling short against England in the semi-final. This week though saw both teams learning from their mistakes and turning their more esteemed IRB 'core' team rivals over on Day 1. 

Spain are playing in their 6th tournament since the beginning of May where they took to the field at the Bury St. Edmunds Sevens and the time together on and off the field is now really beginning to come to fruition with their being a level of understanding that can only come game time. This stands them in good order when compared to England and Wales who are both putting out new sides, with young stars for the future.

The shock of the day came in the guise of last weekend winners of the plate, France. Les Bleus appeared to struggle to find their form as they lost 3 of 4 games, meaning it now impossible for them to qualify for the semi-finals

The remaining pool games tomorrow will solidfy the group placings with the knockout games then to follow.

Full Results 

Pool A

Russia 36 - 0 Moldova
Portugal 45 - 14 Netherlands
England 33 - 5 Italy
Netherlands 28 - 12 Moldova
Russia 19 - 12 Italy
England 21 - 28 Portugal
Italy 19 - 5 Moldova
England 48 - 5 Netherlands
Portugal 21 - 5 Russia
Netherlands 0 - 46 Italy
Portugal 35 - 5 Moldova
England 14 - 14 Russia

Pool B

Wales 26 - 26 Romania
France 7 - 12 Georgia
Spain 14 - 7 Ukraine
Georgia 21 - 12 Romania
Wales 29 - 7 Ukraine
Spain 17 - 12 France
Ukraine 17 - 14 Romania
Spain 24 - 5 Georgia
France 21 - 24 Wales
Georgia 14 - 12 Ukraine
France 40 - 7Romania
Spain 26 - 19 Wales