New Zealand won it’s third title in the last four tournaments of the HSBC Sevens Series today, claiming the Vancouver Sevens tournament crown over arch rivals South Africa.
Now just three points separate the series leaders (Fiji, South Africa and New Zealand) as Fiji continues to hang on to the top spot even with most of their stars out injured. With that, Fiji failed to claim any major silverware in the sixth leg of the series, as the Aussies claimed third spot and Manu Samoa won the plate final.
Kiwis win Cup at Vancouver Sevens
Under-strength, injury-depleted and counted out was the perfect cover for Sir Gordon Tietjens New Zealand (NZ) side to fight hard and to claim their third title of the 2016 World Sevens Series and the Vancouver Sevens title was a special one, as the Kiwis will have the honor of being the first team to have their name engraved on possibly the biggest (and heaviest) Cup on the circuit.
In the final, the Blitzboks went in first through Rosko Speckman after five minutes of tit-for-tat rugby from both sides. Two quick tries to the Kiwis gave them an advantage, first through Sam Dickson after some good work from Liam Messam and Gilles Kaka, who converted from the absolute sideline. They followed that up with a try to Kurt Baker after DHL Player Of The Final Dickson climbed high from the restart to fantastically win the ball, deftly pass it to Baker who charged over to score and then model his trademark ‘double thumps-up’ post-try celebration.
With the score at 14-7, teams went to the break with the Kiwis ahead.
The game plan to keep the ball tight and narrow worked well for the Kiwis, as they starved the South Africans of possession– something that the Boks always implement against the Kiwis and Fijians themselves, but on this day it was used against them. Lewis Ormond crashed over in the corner for the Kiwis third try of the day, and even a runaway try from the series top try-scorer Seabelo Senatla wasn’t enough to deny the NZ their third victory in the last four tournaments. Well done
If Last Word On Sport had to pick a standout ‘player of the tournament’ it would be Lewis Ormond, a silent hard-worker who contributes well to the Kiwi side and will only grow as he plays more tournaments. With a mentor like Gordon Tietjens, need we ask more? On the flip-side, DJ Forbes has ‘shut the mouths’ of most of his critics this weekend. After handing in the captains armband, he has concentrated on his core role, and the team is benefiting from that.
Aussies claim third spot, as Fiji unleashes the ‘One Eyed Assassin’
Quade Cooper, who was the villain for the Thunderbolts last week in Las Vegas, today was the hero as he nailed a sideline conversion to defeat Fiji 19-12. Fiji scored first through the “One Eyed Assassin” Masivesi Dakuwaqa, followed quickly by Emosi Mulevoro but the Aussies replied through South Africa-born Steffan Van Der Walt, to narrow the scores to 12-7 by halftime.
It was replacement winger John Porch who went in for his first ever series try that brought his side back into the game; converted by Cooper to give the Aussies the lead 14-12 and Porch’s second late in the game, won the game for the Aussies. Both teams had lost their semi final matches, the Aussies to their Tasman Sea neighbors 28-19, while the Fiji lost to the Blitzboks 31-19.
The Fijians, in losing Isake Katonibau to injury earlier in the tournament had given more game time to Masivesi Dakuwaqa, and the rookie on debut took it with both hands and displayed some breathtaking speed and hard tackling sevens rugby which had the opposition asking “who has just arrived to the sevens scene?” Losing an eye to a rubber band incident has never stopped Dakuwaqa from playing the sport he loves and his performance proved to Benjamin Ryan that at the highest level; with Rio as the pinnacle, nothing will stop him from achieving his goals.
The world of sevens rugby should stand up to applaud, the “One Eyed Assassin” has arrived.
Samoa shines as they claim the Plate final
The Falemiga Selesele led Samoa side, who have been ‘lukewarm’ all season turned up the heat at the Vancouver Sevens to claim the Plate final win over the USA.
The Eagles side, who were missing the likes of Zack Test, Carlin Isles, Maka Unufe and Matai Leuta were outclassed 31-19, and it was combination of Phoenix-Hunapo, Alex Samoa, Selesele and Belgium Tuatagaloa that all played vital roles in their progress this week in Canada.
Nothing should be taken away from the Americans though, who scared Fiji in the Cup quarter finals only losing in extra-time 31-26, and they then walloped the Welsh Scarlets 38-12 in the semi final while their counterparts Samoa lost their Cup quarter final to New Zealand 17-12, but then accounted for the Scots 24-17 to reach the plate final.
Both the Welsh and Scotland players have produced enough in these last two weeks to have a call up to the Great Britain squad for Rio training squad, especially the likes of Jordan Williams, Luke Treharne, Chris Knight, Luke Morgan and Tom Isaacs from Wales and Jim Farndale, Scott Wright, Scott Fidell and (if eligible) Joe Nayacavou for Scotland.
Canada wins Bowl final at home event
John Moonlight scored right at the death to give the Canadians the win over the French 19-17 to riotous screams and applause from their home fans.
To the delight of the home crowd! Congratulations ??????! #HSBC7s #Canada7s pic.twitter.com/JK7FOolURp
— World Rugby Sevens (@WorldRugby7s) March 13, 2016
It was a sweet victory for the Maple Leafs playing in front of a 35,000 strong crowd. The French were there throughout the game, up in the Canadians faces shutting them down until the very last minute when Les Bleus forward Raphael Lakafia opted to run the ball when he should have kicked it out [to end, and win the game] but the lifeline was enough for the Canadians to pounce on and convert it into points for the famous victory.
The Canadians had reach their Bowl final after humbling the unlucky English side 17-7, while in the other semi Los Pumas lost a closely fought match 17-19. The French, unlucky in that final will still celebrate the milestone archived by Julien Candelon, as he scored his 100th Sevens Series try and became the first French player to reach that milestone. Salut!
With positions up for grabs for the Great Britain side for the Rio Olympics, it’s worrying to see the English team playing poorly, while both Celtic teams Wales and Scotland made it through the quarters, one will surely wonder how the final make up of the GB team will look like.
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Player Of The Final
It was evident today that the ‘money man’ for New Zealand; when it comes to the restart takes, then Sam Dickson would walk away with DHL Player Of The Final Award. Not only was he on fire in the final, but throughout the tournament, especially when Dickson was returning from injury.
DHL Player Of The Tournament
Kitione Taliga of Fiji walks away with the award after he topped the DHL Performance Tracker for this tournament. If he can stay fit, it will bolster the Fiji boys chances in Hong Kong.
Note: New Zealand have found the ‘gas out wide’ that coach Tietjens has been looking for in Sione Molia. big, strong and his two tries in the semi final almost took this award from Taliga.
Vancouver Sevens Dream Team
Kwagga Smith (RSA), Jasa Veremalua (Fiji), Tim Mikkelson (NZL), Phoenix Hunapo-Nofoa (SAM), Kitione Taliga (Fiji), Martin Iosefo (USA), Justin Geduld (RSA).
With a combined attendance of over 60,000 spectators over the two days, the Vancouver Sevens is here to stay. With an electrifying atmosphere amplified by the indoor stadium and with breathtaking rugby on the field, this founding tournament will only get better. The next stop on the circuit is the famous Hong Kong Sevens leg on the 8th of April, followed by Singapore the week after.
Follow all the stories leading up to the ‘mecca of sevens’ in Hong Kong, here on Last Word On Sport with Scott Hornell and Jovilisi Waqa.
“Main photo credit”
