England crash sevens party in Wellington

BY MARC HINTON

What a final. What a finish. The glorious, boisterous, colourful mardi gras that is the Wellington Sevens came to a fitting conclusion, even if it did leave 35,000-odd Kiwis stunned as their heroes were pipped at the final whistle by England.

In a thrilling final, that rose above an overly officious refereeing performance, England scored a seven-pointer right at the death to steal the match, and the title, off New Zealand 19-17.

Fijian transplant Isoa Damudamu was the hero for the English, the long-striding flyer storming on to a nice offload to slice through a tiring Kiwi defence to grab the try that gave the English a memorable victory.

The win also tightens the race at the top of the IRB series table, with both England and New Zealand now on 44 points, just four behind the pacesetting South Africans.

The New Zealanders looked like they had the final in the bag when they led 17-0, Paul Grant, Zar Lawrence and skipper DJ Forbes all running in tries to have the English on the ropes.

But Ollie Phillips grabbed a try for the English just before halftime to get them back to 5-17, and it was enough to spark the belief in the northern hemisphere side.

New Zealand coach Gordon Tietjens lamented that touchdown, and the lift it gave the English, and was also critical of an undisciplined performance from his side that allowed England back into the game.

"It was pretty disappointing to concede one just before halftime," said Tietjens afterwards. "We just had to be composed and not let them back in. We needed to hold on to the ball. It was disappointing not only that we lost but how we lost. We gave them a couple of tries out there."

It was certainly a loose second half from the Kiwis who gifted Rob Vickerman an intercept try that got England to within five, and left them always a danger to snatch the match at the end.

When a player from each side - Vickerman and Tomasi Cama - were sinbinned late in the piece for fighting off the ball, it set up the dramatic finish. As the referee blew a symphony on his whistle, England managed to snaffle possession, and were good enough to put Damudamu on the path to glory.

England playmaker, and former Tasman player, Ben Gollings was rapt. "It's been a long time coming," he said. "I've been comign here for eight years now and never quite got there. We looked down and out but we stuck to it and came up trumps in the end."

New Zealand now has some serious injury issues to worry about ahead of the next tournament in San Diego. Nafi Tuitavake wasn't able to play in the final, Cama picked up a calf strain late in the last game, Edwin Coker has a fractured ankle and Forbes was playign through a serious foot injury.

New Zealand's path to the final had been a tough one. After outlasting South Africa 7-0 in a heavyweight last-eight clash, the Kiwis backed up on that with a hard-fought 10-7 semifinal victory over Argentina as evening set on a raucous Westpac Stadium.

England were much more impressive in their semifinal, crushing the Kenyans 26-0, Phillips their hero with a hat-trick as the northern side hit form at the right stage of the tournament.

Tietjens' men kept it pretty simple against the Argentinians, Lawrence and Nafi Tuitavake notching tries as they shot out to a 10-0 halftime lead.

It got rather messy after that, with both sides struggling to find the holes, and only a last-gasp try to Argentina's Martin Rodriguez made the final margin slightly flattering in the South Africans' favour.

Tietjens, though, was not best pleased with his side's performance.

"It was a good start in the first half, but I was pretty disappointed in the second half," said the master coach. "We just lacked accuracy. It's pretty disappointing, even though we just won a semifinal."

But Tietjens conceded his side had been excellent in one aspect of their game. "Our defence was magnificent in the quarterfinal and we defended well [against Argentina] apart from at the end.

Tietjens confirmed that key forward Coker had suffered a broken ankle in the quarterfinal and said Forbes was also playing through a bad foot injury. "He's so inspirational. He's playing with a lot of pain, but he'll hang in there right to the end."

England looked in ominous form as they took the Kenyans' best shot early, scored one try to lead 7-0 at the break, and then three more in the second spell to run away with a one-sided semi.

Earlier Lote Raikabula was the hero as New Zealand won a titanic defensive quarterfinal over IRB series leaders South Africa.

The New Zealanders prevailed 7-0 in a monumental clash that was locked 0-0 at the break and decided only by Raikabula's try late in the second spell.

It came in dramatic circumstances, too, with South Africa's Mpho Mbiyozo sinbinned nearly five minutes into the second spell for a foot-trip that halted a promising New Zealand movement.

Up a man, the New Zealanders sensed they had to strike, and so they did less than a minute later when Nafi Tuitavake created an opening on the flank and found Raikabula on the angle for an excruciating run to the line.

The big Fijian looked short of gas, but came up with a massive fend on Paul Delport to grab the decisive touchdown. Tomasi Cama added a wide conversion for good measure.

The first half finished scoreless, with both sides showing strong defence to absorb pressure and get up and make the tackles when they were required.

The Kiwis did lose Coker to injury midway through the spell, but that only offet the losses of South African starters Gio Aplon and Mzwandile Stick who were both ruled out of the second day's action with knocks.

Argentina took care of the dangerous Americans 24-14 in the third quarterfinal.

Thje USA scored first with Kevin Swiryn's try taking them out to 7-0, but Argentina replied twice before the break through Martin Rodriguez and Agustin Figuerola to lead 10-7 at the break.

Veteran Santiago Gomez Cora then added a double -- taking his IRB series try tally to 206 -- to put the Argentinians safely out to 24-7, before James Gillenwater grabbed a late consolation for the Americans. 

The popular Kenyans won the opening quarterfinal 10-7 over Wales in a tight contest that was probably a lot closer than it should have been.

The Kenyans scored an unconverted try in each half, to Collins Injera (his fifth of the tournament) and Humphrey Kayange, to lead 10-0. But Wales replied with a seven-pointer to Aled Thomas, and finished the match a little annoyed they weren't quite able to secure ball for one final thrust.

For all that the athletic Kenyans, who dominated possession and looked the far likelier side, deserved the win to continue their rapid emergence as a genuine force on the international sevens scene.

England caused a minor upset when they ran down Fiji with a huge second-half charge to prevail 31-10 in their quarterfinal.

The Fijians sprung out the blocks to lead 10-0 early, with tries to Peni Rokodiva and Rupeni Nasifga, though there were ominous signs as the English finished the spell stronger, getting one try to Tom Biggs and squandering another when Ben Gollings had the ball knocked out from him diving for the score.

It was all England in the second half as the Fijians hardly fired a shot. They crossed for four tries, to Rob Vickerman, Ollie Phillips, Chris Cracknell and Gollings, leaving the inquests to begin back in Suva over another failed campaign. Gollings' late score was his 163rd in the IRB series.

Results, day 2:

Cup quarterfinals: Kenya 10 Wales 7; England 31 Fiji 10; Argentina 24 USA 14; New Zealand 7 South Africa 0.

Cup semifinals: England 26 Kenya 0;  New Zealand 10 Argentina 7.

Final: England 19 New Zealand 17.

Bowl quarterfinals: Tonga 19 Niue 0; France 24 Samoa 7; Cook Islands 33 Canada 12; Australia 22 Scotland 12. 

Bowl semifinals: Tonga 12 France 5; Cook Islands 28 Australia 10.

Bowl final: Cook Islands 24 Tonga 10.

Shield semifinals: Niue 21 Samoa 10; Scotland 14 Canada 7.

Shield final: Scotland 26 Niue 0.

Plate semifinals: Wales 14 Fiji 12; South Africa 22 USA 0.

Plate final: Sth Africa 26 Wales 12.

- © Fairfax NZ News