Day two of the HSBC Sydney Sevens Men’s tournament saw the completion of round robin Pool play with the four pool winners and the runners-up qualifying for the Cup quarter-finals on day three.
In Pool A New Zealand and Fiji both qualified comfortably for the Cup quarter-finals with wins on Day one and two over Samoa and Russia. However the last Pool match between the Sevens giants was the match of the day and played at a frenetic pace with Fiji scoring after the final whistle to beat New Zealand 19-17.
Fiji captain Jerry Tuwai said, “It was such a fast match but then we knew it would be against New Zealand. We really want to win in Sydney as we have not won a tournament for a while. The crowd support was amazing and it felt like we were playing in Suva.”
In Pool B Argentina advanced as the pool winner after three hard fought wins wins over Kenya, France and Wales. Kenya courtesy of two wins secured the runner-up spot.
In Pool C South Africa, the reigning series champions, showed their class and comfortably qualified after winning all three of their pool matches against England, Spain and Papua New Guinea. They were joined by pool runners-up England.
Rosko Specman scored five tries in the pool stages and declared, “It’s a good start for us as in Cape Town we started too slowly and did not make the final. Here in Sydney we are focused on the basics because we know we can punish teams if we play to our game plan.”
“It is also great to share the spotlight with the women in Sydney. World Rugby has done really well in having the women’s and men’s finals on the last day.”
Qualification from Pool D went down to the last two matches of the day. First hosts Australia beat Scotland in a cliffhanger, after being reduced to 6 men for the last few seconds, and qualified as Pool winners with three wins. The final quarter-final spot was decided when USA won its second match by beating Canada in the last match of the day.
The Cup Quarter-finals draw is: Fiji v USA, South Africa v Kenya, Australia v New Zealand, Argentina v England.
Source: www.worldrugby.org
