Outsiders Wales win Sevens crown

Eurosport - Sat, 07 Mar 18:55:00 2009

Outsiders Wales ripped up the form book to beat Argentina 19-12 and claim the Rugby World Cup Sevens title in Dubai.

RUGBY 2009 Wales players celebrate after defeating Argentina in the final of the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Dubai - 0

The Welsh team, largely a second-tier team on the IRB World Sevens Series which has never before reached a final, showed great poise on the third day of competition, stunning New Zealand and Samoa in the quarter and semi-finals.

In the 20-minute final, Wales outscored the Pumas three tries to two, showing greater tactical nous and individual skill against a flagging Argentinian side.

Richie Pugh opened the scoring, the once-capped international flanker sprinting clear into the corner after a long pass from irrepressible sweeper Lee Williams.

Argentina hit back through Martin Rodriguez who latched on to a loose pass to scoot in for a try he converted from the touchline.

Williams was everywhere for the Welsh in defence, coming up with try-saving tackles on Lucas Amorosino and Santiago Cora.

It was, however, another of Wales' one-cap wonders who extended the Welsh lead, winger Tal Selley continuing his fine tournament form with a dummy, step and sharp acceleration for a 60-metre run-in.

Aled Thomas nailed the conversion to hand Wales a 12-7 half-time lead.

In a closely-fought second-half which unusually featured several instances of kicking ping-pong, Argentina were the first to score after almost six minutes of play through Gonzalo Camacho.

But Thomas had the last word, showing a fine turn of speed to skip out of desperate cover tackle and cross for the decisive try, which he also converted.

The knock-out stage of the competition had heralded a day of upsets at the Sevens Stadium.

Aside from Wales, Kenya sensationally beat defending champions Fiji in the quarter-finals but could not continue their giant-killing against the rugged Argentina side.

South Africa, currently joint leaders of the IRB World Series Sevens with England, exited in the quarter-finals at the hands of Argentina, winners of the most recent leg of the global circuit in San Diego last month.

England were beaten in sudden death by Samoa, a loss coach Ben Ryan admitted was a "pretty bitter pill to swallow".

Scotland trumped Australia 21-17 to win the Plate, while Zimbabwe made sure of some African silverware in beating Ireland 17-14 for the Bowl title.

AFP

Comment 1 - 12 of 12

Sort comments by: Most recent

  1. Budwanting...Im English and I just want to say well­ done to Wales. Its good to see a british team triumph

    From laboca123, on Sun 8 Mar 3:12PM

  2. Smiggie, I thought you were taking the p out of the­ ‘it’s not fair’ brigade so an excellent post. Like a­ number of other posters, I find it amazing that there­ has been so little coverage of our success in the 7’s.­ There was nothing on the main BBC sports coverage or­ even a mention on the news. If you go to the BBC­ website it is not mentioned on the home page, with the­ only Rugby Union stories covered being Leicester­ beating Gloucester and some tips from pretty boy­ Guscott on how to tackle!!! But then what can we expect­ from the organisation that gave the Team of the Year­ award in 2005 to the English cricket team for scraping­ their first Ashes win in 18 years, instead of the real­ Team of the Year which was our boys winning their first­ grand slam for over a quarter of a century.

    From Bob B, on Sun 8 Mar 12:41PM

  3. The joy of an unexpected victory :) Congratulations to­ Scotland for thier plate win .

    From kj35tfe, on Sun 8 Mar 12:10PM

  4. I spotted the sarcasm. Thought it funny personally.

    From Daft, on Sun 8 Mar 10:20AM

  5. budwanting....I was simply being sarcastic! I'm a­ Welsh exile and very proud of the boys win. But being­ an ex rugby player, coach, referee (short term mind) ex­ RAF and Combined Services player, am well up on banter­ and sarcasm....apologies if it was mis-understood!

    From Smiggie, on Sun 8 Mar 6:10AM

  6. Why is it you whinging, moaning, complaining bad­ sportsmenship English children can't just admit­ that the best team won on the day and congratulate the­ champions instead of belittling their triumph and­ accusing the ref of unfair play. On a whole it was a­ great day for the home nations for rugby 7s, well done­ to you all. One day Smiggie, when you pull your head­ out, you will realise your not that good.

    From steve, on Sun 8 Mar 4:26AM

  7. Oh I nearly forgot it is played by both Men and Women­ which goes to show that Rugby is not just a Male­ dominated sport. The womens Sevens was also exciting to­ watch.

    From tony, on Sun 8 Mar 3:44AM

  8. I watched some of the games live on Dubai sports­ channel 2 however when it came to the final it wasnt­ shown. They say it was shown live in over 100 countries­ to over 200 million people!! Which countries were­ showing it live. They are wanting it in the olympics­ (which incidently I agree with as it is entertaining­ and suitable in its format) why then is there not more­ coverage and more reporting on Sevens Rugby.
    Lets see­ more Sevens it is trully exciting to watch.

    From tony, on Sun 8 Mar 3:41AM

  9. Good effort Wales and good to see the 7's is still­ thriving. Though I wonder how long the news blackout­ will last....lol. Of course Wales only won because a.­ the ref was biased...and b. the other competitors had a­ bad day!

    From Smiggie, on Sun 8 Mar 2:52AM

  10. Hav'nt heard any mention of it on the national TV­ sports news.

    It must be a mistake. Wales can't win­ a world cup at anything. What was I thinking?

    Oh well!­ it must have been all a dream

    From brw1marine, on Sat 7 Mar 11:28PM

  11. Well done boyos...how many more metres did you run than­ the other sides. C.T.

    From tarr383, on Sat 7 Mar 8:26PM

  12. Well done boys. Can't help thinking that if this­ had been England it would be plastered all over the­ headlines, not stuck as an afterthought on the page.

    From Daft, on Sat 7 Mar 8:01PM
Sort comments by: Most recent

Not already a Yahoo! user ? to get a free Yahoo! Account