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Bok Sevens lose by one point
20/03/2005 10:14 - (SA)
Hong Kong - Australia came from 14-5 down at halftime to beat South Africa by just one point (15-14) at the World Cup Sevens.
Anthony Sauer crashed over in the corner and Shawn Mackay put the Aussies ahead for the narrowest of victories.
Defeat ended a disappointing campaign for the Tri-Nations champions who were earlier beaten by Tunisia, while Australia face the daunting prospect of a semi-final with New Zealand
England knocked Scotland out (36-0) of the World Cup to complete a weekend rugby double over their old rivals.
The victory, a day after England's 43-22 Calcutta Cup win in London, set up a mouth-watering semi-final with Fiji and kept England on track to unite the sevens and 15-a-side titles for the first time.
Ben Gollings put Richard Haughton through early on to settle English nerves before tries to Peter Richards, Tony Roques, Ben Gollings and Geoff Appleford, as England finally hit form after being beaten by France and run close by Samoa in the group stages.
Defending champions New Zealand looked unstoppable as they recovered from an early setback to sweep past France 33-7 in their quarter-final.
Pinched nerve in right shoulder
Tanerau Latimer got the Kiwis back on terms after an early Julien Malzieu score before an Amasio Valence side-step wrong-footed the entire French team to put the defending champions ahead.
However, there was bad news for the Kiwis as playmaker Valence appeared to suffer a recurrence of a pinched-nerve problem in his right shoulder which left him sidelined for part of the group stages.
Meanwhile Fiji held off a late charge by Argentina to set up their semi-final with England.
The 1997 champions were cruising at 17-0 early in the second half before Fernando Higgs and Federico Serra reduced the deficit to three points. However a break-out try by Silesi Bobo secured the win.
A last-minute Gaolo Elisara score settled a tight tussle between Samoa and Ireland 19-14 for the Pacific islanders, now favourites for the plate trophy after being squeezed out of the Melrose Cup series on points.
Tonga, strong contenders for the third-tier bowl trophy, overcame some stubborn resistance from Taiwan to progress to a semi-final meeting with Canada.
- AFP
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