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

The Dijicel Samoa Barbarians have ended the South Sea Drifters Darwin stranglehold in dramatic circumstances at the finale of Heineken Hottest 7s. The Barbarians, making their debut in Darwin, were in rampant mood all weekend and in the end deserved the title, closing out the Drifters 17-15 in Sunday’s $20,000 AUD final. A capacity crowd was at hand to bask in the heat, the party and some sensational sevens on Australia Day weekend.

Timoteo Iosua was the hero going the length to nudge the Samoans in front after the scores were all locked up at 10-all at the break. The Samoans started the final well and combined pace with their normal physicality to stem the usually fluid Fijians and put them off their game.

But the Drifters gritted their way back into the game and were leading 15-10 before Iosua's heroics at the death, stepping his way through the Fijian defense and bamboozling the 40 year old maestro himself, Waisale Serevi, with a scything step.

Team-mate Ofisa Treviranus was named player of the tournament after a series of bullocking displays, showing a highly effective physical edge in the hot and steamy Darwin conditions. With the majority of the Samoan IRB squad turning out for the Barbarians they were highly fancied throughout Saturday and Sunday.

With their game based on a water tight and disciplined defense, teams found them too tough to break down, often soaking up pressure before turning defense into attack. A prime example of this was their clinical 34-0 quarter-final win over The Hong Kong Dragons, a team who had impressed everyone on day 1.

With back to back victories, here and earlier in the year at Uruguay’s Punta Del Este, the Samoans will head across to Wellington for the next leg of the IRB Sevens World Series in optimistic mood.

The Aussie Spirit played to their name with their young side showing plenty of enthusiasm and endeavor despite bowing out at the semi-final stage. The Spirit went down to the eventual tournament champions, the Samoans 26-7, but the two-day tournament in the hot and steamy north of Australia exposed a number of up and coming stars that could feature in years to come for Australian Sevens.

Earlier in the day the Aussie Spirit started the day with a 54-0 win over Ronin Impact. They then progressed through to the knockout stages and took on the dangerous Fijian side Davetalevu and defeated them 15-7.

Shaun Foley, the former Roosters rugby league star having his first taste of senior Rugby here in Darwin, impressed throughout. He ran the show in the quarter-final win blending heroic defense with some clinical finishing.

"Shaun's a footballer with a real future in my mind. His error rate is low and he's been able to learn a lot on the run this weekend in Darwin,” said Spirit Coach Michael O’Connor.

"Along with guys like Swanepoel, McDougall, Sykes and the likes of Dom Shipley and Henry Vanderglas - we have exposed a lot of kids to the realities of this level of Sevens Rugby,” added O’Connor.

Defending champs South Sea Drifters had been slightly off key on day 1. Yet they hit the ground running on Sunday dispatching Australian Rugby Legends 47-0 and eventually eased away from Red Rock 21-10 in the CROC (Cup) quarters.

ULR Samurai might not have made many of the headlines but went about their business effectively throughout the weekend. They hammered Global Fiji Samurai 48-0 in the morning to set up a quarter- final berth with Gordon Rugby Club, eventually overcoming the Aussies 19-5.

Taking on the Drifters in the semi-final was always going to be a tough proposition, especially in the strength sapping conditions. Despite putting up a brave fight they were undone by Serevi’s men in an entertaining game 33-14. With leading IRB leading points machine Ben Gollings and skipper Tim Walsh chaperoning a young and raw side, there were plenty of positives to be taken especially as the side had only been together a few days.

Early in the night the Darwin Dingoes, featuring former Qantas Wallabies and Aussie Sevens star Andrew Walker, beat the Darwin Taipans to take out the final of the Barra division.

Walker played a cool hand for the Dingoes with his deft handling skills keeping his side on the front foot throughout the final which saw two Taipans sin binned for two ugly high shots.

The women's final was predictably won by top seeds Zonnators, who had run riot in the previous rounds, before seeing off Queensland’s Easts Tigers 29-0.

In the Buff final, Sydney club Randwick kicked out to a 17-0 lead in the match up against Uprising Beach Resort from Fiji and eventually got home 17-7.

With the standard of rugby and competition increasing year on year this tournament is increasingly becoming an important and much loved fixture for teams and fans on the sevens circuit.