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Sevens Boks make quarters
10/02/2008 09:49 - (SA)
San Diego - South Africa's Sevens rugby side spoiled two good performances by going down to England (10-14) in their third pool match at Petco Park in San Diego on Saturday. They will now play Argentina, who won all three their pool matches, in the quarterfinals of the fourth tournament of the 2007/08 IRB World Sevens Series.
In the knockout stage of the tournament on Sunday, the Springboks, if they win their quarter-final match, will come up against the winner of the quarterfinal between Samoa and Scotland in the semifinals.
New Zealand completed their Pool A matches without conceding a point, beating Scotland 27-0 in their third match after accounting for Wales (19-0) and France (39-0) in their first two matches.
The Springboks started well when they beat a highly motivated US Eagles side 36-0 in an impressive performance, and then made sure of qualifying for the quarter-finals by thrashing Mexico with the highest score so far, 53-0.
The Boks then had to beat England to head Pool D, which would have set them up against Kenya in the quarters. But it was not to be.
Home side United States, who had impressed in the second and third tournaments of the present IRB World Sevens Series in George - where they lost the Plate final by a single point - and at Wellington where they won the Shield, had openly set their target on not only beating the Springboks but advancing to the quarter-finals.
While Springbok coach Paul Treu was beforehand wary of the US' onslaught, the experienced Boks simply had too much class and pace for a side that probably tried a little too hard to impress in Saturday's third match.
The Eagles' objective of reaching the quarters was probably dented together with their confidence, but they gave England a good fright before losing 21-28 and then beat Mexico 52-0.
Samoa, who won their first two tournaments ever last year but started slowly in the 2007/08 series before narrowly losing to the All Blacks last week in Wellington, beat Fiji 21-17 in a Pool C match. Fiji now play New Zealand in the quarters.
New Zealand are chasing their sixth successive tournament win and also a record of 35 successive match wins. If they reach the semifinal, the All Blacks - now with 33 successive wins - will beat their own record of 34 successive wins set in the 2001/02 series.
Scotland, a vastly improved side in the present series, beat France 19-12 in their first-round Pool A match, but then lost 12-14 to Wales and seemed be destined for the Bowl play-offs. But then France surporised Wales 26-6 and the Scots made it on a count-out on points difference.
The quarter-final fixtures on Sunday are: New Zealand v Fiji, Scotland v Samoa, South Africa v Argentina, Kenya v England.
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