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Samoa end Hong Kong drought
01/04/2007 15:17 - (SA)
Hong Kong - Samoa put in a sensational first-half performance to beat Fiji 27-22 on Sunday for their first Hong Kong Sevens title since 1993.
The Samoans raced to a 27-0 lead at half-time before surviving a furious onslaught by the 11-time champions in front of a packed Hong Kong Stadium.
It was the third consecutive final between the Pacific rivals, with Samoa winning in Wellington and Fiji in San Diego.
The result leaves Samoa joint second in the IRB Sevens Series alongside New Zealand with 78 points, with Fiji just ahead on 84.
Samoan coach Titimaea Tafua was deeply proud of his team's achievement in breaking the 14-year title drought here.
"This is a very good victory for rugby in Samoa - we only have about 1 000 players. And the &100 000 prize is a lot in a poor country like ours," he said.
"We weren't surprised by our 27-point lead. We had prepared very well and the players performed extremely well.
"Our boys played great in the first half, in the second they relaxed a bit and made mistakes that almost cost us the game, but it was a win."
Fiji's veteran maestro Waisale Serevi, 38, was generous in defeat.
Flood of points
"That's Sevens," he said. "We didn't start well and they scored and scored. I said to the team at half-time that Samoa had scored 27 points in 10 minutes, so could we.
"Things were going well, but we didn't quite do it in the end. Congratulations to Samoa. It makes the Sevens series very interesting now, and I'll be back here next year."
Samoan speedster Mikaele Pesamino, 22, scored the quick first try that started a flood of points, with Uale Mai breaking through soon after.
Fiji were left reeling as Pesamino ran in a third, and Jerry Meafou grounded a fourth thanks to some beautiful flowing passes.
Pesamino collected his hat-trick soon after, capitalising on sloppy Fiji passing, to put Samoa 27-0 up at half-time.
Fiji finally scored when Emosi Vucago sneaked round the blind side, and three tries by Setefano Cakau, superstar William Ryder and Simione Saravanua put them back in the game as tension mounted.
Beaten by the better side
Samoa were fighting for their lives, but time ran out for Fiji in their efforts to add to their list of Hong Kong successes.
Earlier, England's bid for a fifth successive Hong Kong crown had ended when they were thrashed by New Zealand in the quarter-finals.
"We were beaten by a better side," said England coach Ben Ryan. "Many of our players from last year have moved on (to the full international side). That's our job, but it takes time to replace them."
New Zealand then fell 21-12 to Fiji in a classic semi-final, while Samoa beat South Africa 10-0 to reach the championship game.
Hong Kong threw away their chance to shine at home when they lost 19-12 to the United States in the plate quarter-finals. Wales won the plate while Russia won the bowl competition.
The final day of the tournament was watched by a capacity crowd of 40 000 international fans who brought a wild carnival atmosphere to the Hong Kong Stadium.
The IRB Sevens World Series moves on to its fifth leg in Adelaide on April 7-8, before completing the season with events in London and Edinburgh.
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