The penultimate spectacle in the HSBC World Sevens Series took place last weekend at the Scotstoun Stadium in Glasgow. The All Blacks went into the tournament with a slim 7 point lead in the series over their rivals the Blitz Bokke (SA 7’s team) who were in second place.
The Silver Fern displayed a dominant performance as they dispatched all their opponents with relative ease and finesse. Canada on the other put their hand up as one of the teams to be watched in the future as they shocked the world by making it to the cup finals.
It was a relatively one sided final as the Blacks dismantled Canada to take the Glasgow sevens 54 points to 07 all but ensuring another World Series title. New Zealand had pretty much wrapped up the game in the first half with a 28-07 lead. Ben Lam opened the scoring for New Zealand early in the half as he powered his way over the line. Harry Jones then lit a glimmer of hope for the Canadians as he went over for an equalizing try. Two quick tries by Scott Curry and an injury time score from Bryce Heem saw New Zealand all but take the trophy. Gillies Kaka’s spot on kicking added insult to injury as he knocked over all four conversions.
New Zealand just carried on from where they left off in the second half and Lam went over again just 35 seconds into the half. More tries by Kaka, Adam Whitelock and Akira Loane saw New Zealand take back the Glasgow Sevens after a lapse of just one year. This was New Zealand’s 50th Sevens tournament win.
The Kiwis beat Samoa 26-07, Portugal 38-00 and South Africa 19-05 in their pool games to qualify for the cup quarter-finals. It must be mentioned that Coach Sir Gordon Tietjens showed immense confidence in his team as he left three off his most vital players including skipper DJ Forbes on the bench for the all-important clash against the Bokke. New Zealand went on to beat Australia 19-07 and Fiji 19-14 in the Cup Quarter and Semi-finals respectively.
In Canada’s pool games they beat Japan 52-00, France 28-12 and tied with England at 7 points apiece. The Beavers then beat Kenya 14-05 in the quarter finals and then the hosts’ Scotland 07-10 in the semi-finals to make it into the cup final for the first time ever.
In the other finals Fiji took third place beating a high flying Scotland 17-10. Scotland made it into the cup semi-finals for the first time in seven years having pulled off the biggest upset of the weekend when they beat South Africa 12-07 in the quarter finals.
In the Plate competition England beat Kenya 26-05 whilst France took home the Bowl topping Argentina 20-14. In the Shield finals Wales overran Japan 29-12.
Next week is the 9th and final stop of the Sevens Series at Twickenham. The All Blacks will most likely claim the HSBC Sevens series for the 4th consecutive year and the 12th time since its inception in 1999. The only way South Africa could take the title away from New Zealand is if South Africa wins the in London and New Zealand loses every game.
