Exactly one year ago Fiji kicked off the IRB HSBC sevens series in the exact manner toppling the eventual champions and favorites New Zealand in the cup final of the Gold Coast Sevens.
In a repeat of the 2011 final Fiji once again proved too strong for the All Black Sevens at Skilled Park with Ratu Raitini scoring an impressive hat-trick and Joji Raqamate crossing twice to seal a 32-14 win over the Blacks.
New Zealands road to the final was not as smooth sailing as last year beating USA and Canada but coming up short against South Africa in their last game on Saturday. Fiji too picked up two wins and a loss against Scotland, Tonga and hosts Australia respectively.
As expected both teams came out guns blazing on day two as the Kiwis downed Argentina and Kenya in the Quarters and Semi finals respectively. Fiji knocked over Samoa and South Africa in their quarter final and semi final matches on Sunday. France and Australia were knocked out of the cup competition when they lost in their Quarter final games to South Africa and Kenya.
South Africa took third place with a whopping 41-07 win over their neighbors, Kenya who were certainly the surprise package of the weekend. Argentina took 5th place after beating France in the final of the plate competition. France and Argentina made their way into the Plate finals with wins over Australia and Samoa.
Spain sealed 9th place after taking bowl with an entertaining 19-14 win over England. England beat Canada 24-19 and Spain beat Wales 16-17 in the two Bowl Semi finals. Scotland picked up the last piece of silverware in the Shield final with a 40-05 hiding of USA.
16 teams participated in total all gaining a minimum of one point in the overall IRB standings. The Standings of the HSBC sevens series after week one are as follows-
TEAMAUSDUBRSANZLUSAHKGJPNSCOENGPTS
1Fiji220000000022
2New Zealand190000000019
3South Africa170000000017
4Kenya150000000015
5Argentina130000000013
6France120000000012
7Australia100000000010
Samoa100000000010
9Spain8000000008
10England7000000007
11Canada5000000005
Wales5000000005
13Scotland3000000003
14United States2000000002
15Portugal1000000001
Tonga1000000001
Points table courtesy- www.irb.com
The highlights for day one and two- http://www.irbsevens.com/video/index.html
The teams will now make their way to Dubai for round two after a one and a half month break on the 30th of November.
