University players threaten to defeat Samoa in Edinburgh 7's final
Champions Samoa end Aussie Sevens bid for back-to-back titles
May 31, 2010 - 6:50am
Story by: ARU
The Australian Rugby Sevens won past Fiji and New Zealand to reach their second Cup Final in as many weeks but a ruthless Samoa extinguished hopes of back-to-back victories as they claimed the Edinburgh Sevens decider 41-14 and were crowned IRB World Series Champions on Sunday (Monday AEST).
A superb end-of-season run has seen Australia finish an impressive third in the Championship with 122 points, which is their best result on the IRB Sevens circuit since 2000/2001.
Australia knocked New Zealand out of the two-nation race for the Championship with a 24-19 victory in the Cup semi-final, after earlier cementing third place with a 15-7 win over Fiji at Murrayfield.
Fiji, who came into the final event of the World Series in equal third with Australia, finished fourth overall on 108 points ahead of England (96) and last season’s champions South Africa (80).
Samoa’s marathon 27-minute semi-final against England appeared to have taken its toll on the Pacific Islanders when Henry Vanderglas found a hole in tired defence and offloaded to Jacob Taylor who scored just 15 seconds into the Cup final.
Captain James Stannard made the conversion to give Australia an early 7-0 lead.
Keen to stop Australia’s bid for back-to-back titles, Samoa rallied though top try-scorer Mikaele Pesamino before tries to Reupena Levasa and Uale Mai gave Samoa a 17-7 advantage at the break.
Stannard, who played a starring role in Australia’s victory in London, pulled one back after halftime to have his side back in the hunt at 17-14 before Pesamino hit back to restore the 10-point margin.
A quick-fire double to Fautua Otto put the match beyond doubt before Pesamino completed his hat-trick to seal the 41-14 win and take his season tally to an incredible 56 tries.
Australian Sevens coach Michael O’Connor said his side’s semi-final victory over New Zealand was the first they have achieved in recent memory.
“It’s been quite a few years since we have beaten New Zealand so it was quite an achievement for the boys to knock them out of the race for the Championship,” O’Connor said.
“As for the final, in the end Samoa were hot and brought their ‘A’ game, even after a match that went into extra-time against England.
“They proved unbeatable at the restart and at the set piece and in the second half they totally starved us of possession and had us pinned on our own 22.
“But I’m proud of the boys, we’ve done really well. If you had said to me a couple of weeks ago that we’d make the two Cup finals and win one, well, I would have taken it.”
Aussie skipper Stannard said after finishing eighth in the Championship for the past two years he was incredibly proud of his team’s achievement.
“I’m very proud of the boys, finishing third overall is sensational, I can’t believe it really, we had a goal to reach the top four this year and to come third is even better,” Stannard said.
“It’s been an incredible two weeks, to win in London and then to beat Fiji and New Zealand and reach the final in Edinburgh, even though we didn’t get the win, it is a great achievement by the boys.
“We really came together this weekend but Samoa unfortunately also really wanted the win and they came out in the final and killed us at the set piece.”
Australian Sevens squad: James Stannard (capt), Nick Phipps, Jacob Taylor, Brackin Karauria-Henry, Bernard Foley, Ed Jenkins, Ed Stubbs, Jesse Parahi, Daniel Yakopo, Clinton Sills, Sam Latunipulu, Henry Vanderglas.
