Australia’s men were unbeaten to top Pool C on the opening day of the Dubai Sevens and will play surprise qualifiers Scotland in the quarter-finals of the rugby tournament on Saturday.
Australia downed Kenya 29-12, the USA 26-10 and England 12-5 on Friday.
In the other quarter-finals of the second round of the Sevens World Series, England will take on champions New Zealand, Fiji play Wales and South Africa meet Argentina.
New Zealand,, and Fiji, who won the opening event on Australia’s Gold Coast, were also unbeaten on Friday.
The All Blacks saw off Japan 36-0, Scotland 43-0 and Samoa 41-0 to ease through Pool B.
“I thought we showed excellent maturity and calmness under pressure in the game against England,” Australia coach Geraint John said.
“We stayed in our structures, didn’t panic and showed a great attitude to win…particularly in the last few minutes when we were making last-ditch tackles and working our socks off despite the odd mistake here and there.
“In the games against the USA and Kenya I always felt we were in control. But overall, it’s been a good day and I’m really pleased.
“We have a really tough game against Scotland tomorrow who I’m always told are our bogey side – they gave us a good game on the Gold Coast and I’m expecting a similarly difficult game tomorrow as they were very good today. To beat Samoa, who finished runners-up on the Gold Coast, was a terrific effort.’
Hoppers
Guest
Only slightly frustrating thing about the sevens tour is knowing that each time yer team makes it to the next round you've gotta find a way to stay awake for another 3 or 4 hours!
Justin3
Guest
Would Dave Harvey be the slowest sevens player ever?
Zero Gain
Guest
Stop smiling...
conor
Guest
James Hutton Yes, you did. Dave Harvey's mother is Brazilian and he has been recruited for Brazil's sevens squad. Brazil has an automatic spot in Rio 2016 sevens by virtue of Rio's host city status.
ROTUMA ISLAND
Guest
or Pollard-Jan-Steyn.
ROTUMA ISLAND
Guest
and probably the fastest backline (7's) I have seen in ages.
James Hutton
Guest
Did I see a player by the name of Dave Harvey playing in this weekends 7's - - for Brazil??. Not the "wandering" Sydney clubman.
Harry Jones
Expert
I agree he'd need some time to sort that. I'm resigned to Frans-Jan-Jaque (if Japan contract issues resolved).
atlas
Guest
one feature of this tournament was the appearance of Chiefs player Tim Nanai-Williams for the Samoa sevens team He is using the 'loophole' of this series so he can fulfil the criteria of playing at the Rio Olympics (and ? RWC 2015?), as he has previously been an All Black Sevens player; while Auckland-born he qualifies for Samoa via the parent.grandparent clause. There were a few threads about players being able to do this, but as far as I know, he's the only one so far (? could be wrong)
I don't know about Pollard at 12, he didn't look all that good at 12 for the Junior Boks, nor for the Bulls. If you look at his defensive stats he has attempted 50 tackles and missed 10, not sure he is solid enough for a 12. By the way, de Villiers' defence slipped heavily this year, out of 60 attempted tackles he has missed 17.
Harry Jones
Expert
Excellent point. And they have to manage a lot more space. I like ideas in the comments to your last piece--using Pollard-Lambie (whoever doesn't start at 10) at 12; then going Conrad Smith prototype at 13. Pollard is big enough at 12.
And we have one of the smallest backlines
Harry Jones
Expert
Impressive defense
atlas
Guest
South Africa beat Australia 33-7 in the final Third-place playoff: Fiji 26 beat NZ 12 Plate - Scotland 12-26 Argentina Bowl - France 21-31 Samoa Shield - Canada 19-12 Kenya Standings (after 2 rounds) 39 Fiji 37 SA 29 Aust 28 NZ 27 Samoa, Eng 25 Arg 20 Wales Now to SA, next weekend 13-14 December
Oz made the final by beating Fiji in the match of the tournament after trailing them by halftime, they took Fiji into extra time and then won by sudden death. SA made the final by virtue of some impressive performances on day two. They beat Argentina 40-0, then blitzed the All Blacks by beating them 28-0. The first half of the final was a close affair with the score 7-7 at the break, but then in the second half SA came out and scored 4 unanswered tries.