• • Facebook
  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • Technorati
  • Reddit
  • Stumble Upon
  • Furl

South Africa clinched their first IRB Sevens World Series title on day one at the Emirates Airline Edinburgh Sevens at Murrayfield, and capped a historic day by beating eight-time champions New Zealand to top their pool.
Twenty points clear of England in the race for the overall title, Paul Treu's side needed just a single point from the final event in Edinburgh to guarantee Series success and will take at least four after reaching the Cup Quarter Finals.

Paul Treu’s side began strong with a 33-10 win over France before dominating an inexperienced USA side 34-5 and closing with a close 14-12 win over New Zealand to top Pool A. Mzwandile Stick converted Kyle Brown's two tries and although the Kiwis also scored twice through Kurt Baker and Paul Grant, they squandered a number of other opportunities.

"It's an unbelievable feeling for me, I can can only imagine how the players are feeling," said coach Paul Treu, himself a former captain and involved with South Africa Sevens since 1999.
Before they could celebrate, Treu and his players had to wait for New Zealand to beat France to guarantee their Cup quarter final place.

"It was nerve-racking, especially when they were up 17-5 up but the French started to attack," added Treu. "I said 'we can't start celebrating yet, we have to wait', but now we're finally there and it takes the pressure off a little bit but we still have some work to do."

On a fine day for African rugby Kenya also topped their pool at Murrayfield by beating both the hosts Scotland and the London champions of last weekend England. Scotland alos went through after shocking England in their first game of the day playing some adventurous rugby to record a 33-17 win, but were denied in the last minute by Kenya.

Fiji pipped Australia at the death to win 26-19 and top Group B, although both sides progress to the Cup quarter finals. Waqa Kotobalavu and Orisi Sareki both scored a brace of tries as Fiji got off to a winning start against Portugal, 41-7, and then Pio Tuwai grabbed a hat trick in an even more convincing win against Spain, 40-0.
Australia also won their first two games against the Iberian neighbours. They beat Spain 24-7, building on a 10-7 half time lead with tries from James Stannard, Willie Bishop, Dominic Shipperley and Shaun Foley and then overpowered Portugal, Clinton Sills crossing for a hat trick of tries in a 29-0 win.

In the all-Iberian clash Portugal beat Spain 33-10, Aderito Esteves outstanding with two tries and Pedro Leal, captain Diogo Mateus and Goncalo Foro also scoring.

Samoa proceeded from a tight Pool D along with World Cup-winners Wales. The Welsh beat Argentina and lost against Samoa but piled on the points against Georgia to guarantee qualification for the Cup quarter finals on points difference, and Samoa blitzed the Pumas in their winner-takes-all clash 42-7.

Argentina captain Santiago Gomez Cora scored five tries in the Pumas' opening two matches against Wales and Georgia, but even a hat trick against the Welsh was not enough for a win as they lost 19-17 in a repeat of the World Cup final. Gomez Cora's 15 first half points took him above New Zealand great Amasio Valence Raoma to third in the all time point-scoring list but Ifan Evans and Lee Beach both scored tries after the break, Beach's crucially converted by Aled Thomas for the win.

South Africa currently have 116 points, 20 clear of England on 96. Fiji (82) and New Zealand (80) appear to be battling for third place, with Argentina (68) and Kenya (60) also in the hunt.

Cup Quarter-Finalists:
South Africa v Australia
Samoa v Scotland
Kenya v Wales
Fiji v New Zealand

Day 1 - As it Happened