Fiji storm to Sevens semis
2006-04-02 08:42
Hong Kong - World Cup champions Fiji stormed through to the semi-finals of the Hong Kong Sevens rugby tournament after coming from behind to defeat Scotland 26-12 on Sunday.
The mighty Fijians overcame a slow start before they tore apart the Scottish defence as they took a giant step towards winning a 10th Hong Kong Sevens crown.
Scotland's Alistair Warnock drew first blood with an opening try but Fiji steadily took control with tries from Jone Daunivucu, Filimoni Bolavucu, Epeli Dranivasa and Semisi Naevo Saukawa settling the issue.
Fiji will next take on the winners of the other quarter-final clash between Australia and New Zealand.
The recent Commonwealth Games bronze medallists have the best playing record of all teams competing in the former British colony, winning two World Cup titles here in 1997 and 2005 apart from their nine Hong Kong Sevens titles.
In the other cup quarter-final matches, South Africa take on Argentina and Samoa challenge defending champions England, who are aiming for a fourth consecutive Hong Kong Sevens title.
Meanwhile, Kenya marched towards a plate semi-final showdown with France after impressing in a 36-12 victory over Russia. France booked their semi-final berth after defeating South Korea 21-14 in the teams' second match-up in the tournament. France had earlier been held to a 19-19 draw by South Korea in a pool match on Saturday.
The other plate semi-final will be between Canada and Wales. Canada stopped the brave run of Japan - who earlier gave New Zealand a huge fright on Saturday - with a hard fought 22-12 victory. Canada play Wales in the next round after the Welsh thrashed Portugal 31-0.
The Bowl semi-finals feature four Asian teams after Hong Kong, China, Sri Lanka and Chinese Taipei booked their berths into the last four.
Hong Kong thrashed Singapore 33-0 to condemn the Singaporeans to their fourth consecutive defeat. The defeat also consigned Singapore to their worst showing at the Sevens as they completed four matches without scoring a single point in the tournament.
Hong Kong take on China in their next match after the Chinese scored one of their best results at a Sevens tournament -- a well deserved 17-12 victory over Italy.
The other bowl semi-final will be between Sri Lanka and Chinese Taipei who completed the all-Asian semi-final line-up. The Sri Lankans defeated the United States 21-17 and Chinese Taipei beat Madagascar 22-12.