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Samoa beat SA in Sevens match
01/04/2007 14:05 - (SA)
Johannesburg - Fiji face Samoa in an all-island final for the second time this season after both sides won superb victories in their semi-finals of the 2007 Hong Kong Sevens.
Waisale Serevi came as a substitute against New Zealand and brought the crowd to its feet by finishing off a flowing move which he started well inside his own half.
Zar Lawrence's early try for the Kiwis was cancelled out by Lepani Nabuliwaqa before halftime and in the second half Setefano Cakau and DJ Forbes exchanged tries before Serevi's final swansong.
In the other semi-final Samoa punished South African profligacy with a determined display of opportunism and self-belief.
Gcobani Bobo and Mzwandile Stick both squandered good chances to score for the Boks but Treviranus went over on the stroke of half time for Samoa.
Tight defence was the story of the second half and, with time running out, Lolo Lui calmly slotted a drop goal to take his side out to a 10-point lead, which they held onto until the final whistle.
Earlier England's five year grip on the Hong Kong crown spanning back to April 2001 was finally prised open by New Zealand.
Four year reign in Hong Kong to an end
Forwards Dave Seymour and Ben Russell led the fight alongside proud skipper Simon Amor but four tries - for Hunt, Pelenise, Yates and King - brought England's four year reign in Hong Kong to an end.
A fine performance by Scotland also forced the very best from Fiji, William Ryder scoring a hat-trick in their 28-7 quarter-final win.
In the other half of the draw two tries for Lolo Lui inspired Samoa to a hard-fought 26-17 win over much-improved Australia, for whom Tim Wright scored the pick of three tries. South Africa was then taken to the wire by Tonga in the last Cup quarter-final.
Leading 7-0 at the break, the Boks conceded a try early in the second period before asserting their authority with tries from Basson and Mbiyozo.
Wales stun Argentina to take Plate Wales staged a dramatic fight back in the dying stages to stun Argentina and take the Hong Kong Plate trophy, 26-19.
In doing so the Welsh also kept up an incredible record of winning silverware in each of their last seven IRB Sevens World Series events.
Thrilling climax
Argentina went ahead early on through prolific try scorer Santiago Gomez Cora and, although Wales pulled on back through Wayne Evans, the Pumas stretched out to a 19-5 half time lead with tries from Camacho and Barni.
The second was all Wales, though, and tries from Alec Jenkins and Lee Beach set up a thrilling climax that saw Tal Selley's try steal victory.
Russia beat European rivals France 21-7 to take the Hong Kong Bowl and with it their first ever silverware and ranking point in the IRB Sevens World Series.
Leading 7-0 at the break through a try from Andrei Kuzin, the Russians built a 21-0 lead through further scores for Galinovskiy and Ostrouschko before conceding a consolation try to France, scored by Nicolas Carmona.
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Rugby
