Victorious England Sevens Captain Ollie Phillips had the following to say on the prospects of possibly catching up with Series log-leaders South Africa. 

“We’ve made it interesting. New Zealand are in their group and they’re a strong side so fingers crossed they can do something special and knock them out. If they do that it’s all to play for.

“All we said at the start was play to our best, win these two tournaments if we can and go from there. If it wins us the Series, it wins us the Series. If it doesn’t, we won two tournaments.”

Phillips and his England team are holding thumbs that South Africa are eliminated from the Cup competition before the Quarter-finals  of next week’s Scotland Sevens where they play New Zealand, France and the United States in Pool A.

However, even if SA finishes Pool A in third position, winning the Bowl Competition could be another way to clinch the Series title, as the Springboks only need 1 point should England repeat their London performance by winning the Cup title at Murrayfield.  Bok coach Paul Treu had the following to say on the latter permutation:

“No team would like to win by placing their fate in the hands of other teams. I am disappointed that we could not clinch the series here and feel that we threw away our chances in the way we played against New Zealand.
If you want to be the best team in the world, you have to be consistent and we did not do that here. I got the feeling we never really got into gear and made silly errors. Some of our more experienced players were not up to standard.”

England has won their home Sevens Tournament by beating New Zealand 31-26 AET (After Extra Time) through a sensational try by Mickey Young.  England showed great composure, coming back from a 0-19 deficit at half-time and with the mercurial Ben Gollings levelling the score at 26 a piece at close of regulation play.  The win takes them to 96 points on the overall Series log. 

This means that, should England repeat this weekend’s feat and clinch the Scotland title, South Africa has to gain only ONE point from next week’s Scotland Sevens at Murrayfield in Edinburgh if they were to secure the title of IRB Sevens World Series Champions. A Bowl title will suffice for the Springboks.

The mercurial Ben Gollings (England)

From irb.com:

England won a superb final in sudden-death extra time against New Zealand 31-26 to claim the Emirates Airline London Sevens at Twickenham.

The Cup title is England’s first on home soil for five years and means that South Africa will have to wait another week before celebrating winning the IRB Sevens World Series.

After England’s fine win, their second this year, South Africa lead them by 20 points in the race for the overall title.

New Zealand were quickly into their stride in the final and scored three unanswered tries through Julian Savea (2) and Kurt Baker, leaving England with it all to do.

Ben Ryan’s side needed to score first after the break and did so through powerful wing Uche Oduoza. Gollings converted to make the score 19-7 and Mickey Young’s score brought it to 19-12.

England captitalised on a period of sustained pressure to pull level, James Rodwell breaking through the defence to score under the posts, but Zar Lawrence capped a superb personal performance to pull the kiwis ahead again, 26-19.

With the seconds counting down New Zealand seemed to have both hands on the Cup, but replacement wing Dan Norton streaked down the line and under the posts. Ben Gollings converted to pull England level, take his own all-time Sevens tally to 2,000 points and the match into sudden-death extra time.

With the 36,000 strong crowd on the edge of its seat, England pressed deep into kiwi territory and from a when the forwards won a scrum against the head scrum half Mickkey young sprinted to the corner to clinch a famous victory.

The South African Sevens Team will be rooting for the Kiwis during the Cup Final of the London Sevens later this morning (Hong Kong time).  The reason:

After Semi-final 2:

England beat Scotland in Semi-final #2 and will meet New Zealand in the Cup Final of the London Sevens.

Permutations and the effect on South Africa

If England wins:

They will take 20 points onto their Series Total (76 +20 = 96 points)

Overall Result: SA will have to gain only 1 point next week (ie. a Bowl Title), even if England wins the Scotland Cup Championship next week.  Should they win next week, it will will take them to level 116 with South Africa, with the Bokke needing only 1 point to eclipse the Poms.

If New Zealand wins:

They will take 20 points onto their Series Total (64 + 20= 84 points)

England as losers win take 16 points onto their Series Total (76+16=92 points)

Overall result: South Africa will win the Overall title of Series Champions.

Supporters of the SANZAR partners in good spirits at Joe Bananas (WanChai) during the Hong Kong Sevens a couple of months ago. 

Go New Zealand!

New Zealand beat South Africa is a hard-fought Cup Semi-final (5-10) of the London Sevens 2009 at Twickenham tonight (this morning Hong Kong time). 

The win denies the Bokke an early Series win celebration, leaving the Bokke to ironically having to wait for the Kiwis to beat hosts England in the Cup Final should England beat next week’s hosts Scotland in the other Cup Semi-final (currently on-going).

With their Semi-final exit, South Africa takes 12 points into the overall Series standing, bringing them to 116 points after the London Sevens.  Should England win tonight, they will be left on 96 points.  This means that even if they win the Scotland Sevens next week (taking them also to 116 points) all the South Africans need to clinch the overall IRB Sevens Series Title will be a single point (or a Bowl winners title).

Update after Semi-final 2:

England beat Scotland in Semi-final #2 and will meet New Zealand in the Cup Final of the London Sevens.

Permutations:

If England wins:

They will take 20 points onto their Series Total (76 +20 = 96 points)

Overall Result: SA will have to gain only 1 point next week (ie. a Bowl Title), even if England wins the Scotland Cup Championship next week.

If New Zealand wins:

They will take 20 points onto their Series Total (64 + 20= 84 points)

England as losers win take 16 points onto their Series Total (76+16=92 points)

Overall result: South Africa will win the Overall title of Series Champions.

The Springbok Sevens side at the London Sevens 2009 is ONE GAME away from Series glory!  The Springboks will meet perennial opposition New Zealand in the first Cup Semi-finals at London’s Twickenham Stadium.  Next week’s hosts Scotland made it through to the other Semi-final by narrowly beating Portugal in a game where the Scotland were leading for most of the contest. 

England has just beaten Australia to set up a clash with neighbors Scotland.

The Cup Semi-finalists for the London Sevens 2009 are:

South Africa vs. New Zealand

Scotland vs. England 

Cup Quarter-finals: South Africa vs. France

First half:

SA scored 2 tries: Mzwandile Stick thanks to some unselfish passing by Vuyo.(conversion: Stick) & Rayno Benjamin (conversion Stick)

Halftime score: SA 14 -0 France

Gio Aplon & Neil Powell on after the change.

Second Half:

SA scored 1 try: Vuyo Zangqa (conversion Stick)

Rayno Benjamin has had enough after the siren, boots the ball out.

Game over, victory over France…. South Africa.

Full-time Score: SA 21-5 France

Hard-fought game, nervous during the first half, but clinical by South Africa.  To all, this was indeed the Vuyo & Stick show.  Tries and conversions by both (with Rayno Benjamin), superbly suported by some great, efficient tackling by their team-mates and some great handling skills by commentator Nigel Starmers-Smith’s favourite: Kyle Brown!

South Africa will meet either New Zeland or Fiji in the Semi-Finals of the London Sevens 2009.

Update after Game 30:

New Zealand beat Fiji in game 30, and will meet South Africa in the Cup Semi-final of the London Sevens 2009.

Sarugby  reported on Day 1 of the London Sevens as follows:

The South African Sevens team had to dig deep on the first day of the International Rugby Board’s (IRB) World Sevens Series tournament in London, but thanks to a late try by Gio Aplon they managed to beat Australia 17-14 in their final pool match and finish the day unbeaten.

In doing this, the Springbok Sevens progressed to the Cup quarter-finals of the penultimate tournament of the 2008/09 season. They need 13 log points to wrap up their first-ever series title.

The quarter-finals will not be easy, but if the Sevens Boks can build on their performances on Saturday and progress to the final at Twickenham, they would have done enough to take the IRB crown for this season.

Earlier on the first day, Paul Treu’s team was too good for Sevens World Cup champions Wales and the relative unknown Germany. The South Africans beat the Welshmen 29-5 before compiling one of the biggest scores in a long time against the Germans, winning this game 70-0.

Treu said after his team’s hard-fought victory over Australia that he knew it wasn’t going to be an easy game.

“I’m very happy with the composure showed by the players. It was always going to be difficult to pick ourselves up for a tough game against Australia after beating Germany 70-0, but we did,” said Treu.

“The big concern going into the second day of the tournament is the ease at which the Australians broke our line. We conceded two tries against them, but if you want to win tournaments and finals, you have to make your first-time tackles.”

Apart from Aplon, the Springbok Sevens’ tries against Australia came from Mpho Mbiyozo and the ever-improving Kyle Brown.

Renfred Dazel, who almost missed the London-tournament because of passport problems, got them on their way against Wales, with Ryno Benjamin also getting on the score sheet. The South Africans led 12-5 at half-time, but after two tries by captain Mzwandile Stick and another by Aplon, they took it away from the Welsh.

Vuyo Zangqa got a hat trick and Benjamin a brace against Germany, with Dazel, Aplon, Chase Minnaar, Robert Ebersohn and Brown also crossing the try-line in this game.

Treu will have a fully-fit squad of 12 to pick from on Sunday, which should make the Bok Sevens coach task a bit easier.

The International Rugby Board carried this story on their website on Friday:

We preview pool A at the London Sevens featuring Australia, Wales, Germany and South Africa, who are on the verge of clinching a historic first World Series.

World champions in 15-a-side rugby and now seemingly poised to add success in the shorter version of the game, South Africa have a golden opportunity over the next 10 days to add the IRB Sevens World Series trophy to the cabinet for the very first time.

After a fine season, Paul Treu’s side lies far enough ahead of its nearest rivals to hold the destiny of the Series tightly in its grip, although mathematically they can still be caught at the line.

“It’s a tough one because we’re 28 points ahead of England and we need to go out there and really stuff it up if we’re not going to win it, but we’ve seen so many things happen in the past and the last thing we can afford is to become complacent,” said Treu.

Two seasons ago Fiji seemed to have the World Series in the palm of their hand, only to lose in the Edinburgh quarter finals against Wales and pave the way for New Zealand to snatch back the crown. Last season New Zealand had a chance to clinch overall glory in London, but lost in the Cup quarter finals against England and needed the Edinburgh event to rubber-stamp their title defence.

“It’s all about standards,” continued Treu. “We’ve set ourselves high standards and we started the season well by winning the first two events in Dubai and George, and we would like to finish on a high as well.

“It’s a difficult one because how do you keep your motivation? How do you keep going and shifting the boundaries, but I’ve told the players that New Zealand were in a similar situtation last year and maybe wanted to win it in the first tournament and we have to be careful not to make the same mistakes.”

Over the past few years Treu has been blessed with players of sublime talent, but never held onto them for long enough to build a concerted push for the title.

Kabamba Floors, Jonathan Mokuena, Phillip Burger, Stefan Basson, Marius Schoeman, Jaco Pretorius, Fabian Juries, Danwell Demas and Tobela Mdaka were often brilliant when they played, but this season the world of Sevens has witnessed the first effects of the coach’s new full-time set-up in Stellenbosch.

“Those guys were there and they definitely did a job for us but we needed something else as well, we needed a new emphasis, a new focus and vision and we wanted to win the World Series for the first time and then set ourselves up to win it on a consistent basis.

“New Zealand have set the standard over the past 10 years, and we wanted to change that.”

Have you watched the video interview?

The South African Sevens Team under the leadership of ex-player and coach Paul Treu is on the brink of achieving their motto of becoming:

“The Pioneers of Greatness.”

The Springboks have remained unbeaten on Day 1 of the London Sevens and have made it through to the Cup Quarter-finals on Day 2.  In the process they beat current Sevens World Champions Wales (29-5), minnows Germany were white-washed by the biggest score of the tournament (70-0).  They then showed great composure by beating an inspired Australia (17-14).

South Africa will take on France during the 5th game of the knockout-round.

The Cup Quarter-finals will be contested by:

South Africa v   France
New Zealand v   Fiji
Scotland          v   Portugal
England           v   Australia 

In one of his regular video interviews with irb.com, Bok coach Paul Treu reflects on the path of the Springbok Sevens side from the days of  being just “part-time” Sevens players to where they are today: on the brink of a first-ever IRB Sevens World Series title.