Double up for NZ, Blitzboks falter

Published Feb 7, 2016

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Sydney – The All Black Sevens snatched a dramatic win at the death in Sydney on Sunday to win back-to-back Sevens titles, while the Springbok Sevens ended in a disappointing fourth position.

The New Zealand team grabbed a last-gasp try through Rieko Ioane to steal the Sydney Sevens title from hosts Australia in the Cup final following a 27-24 victory at the Allianz Stadium.

The Kiwis beat the Blitzboks in last week’s Wellington final, and are now in a three-way tie at the top of the World Rugby Sevens Series log with South Africa and Fiji. All three teams are on 69 points, with six rounds left in the season.

In the third-place playoff on Sunday, the Blitzboks battled to get going after Fiji made a fast start and raced into a 14-0 lead within the opening eight minutes as Jerry Tuwai and Semi Kunatani powered their way through some flimsy defence by the South Africans.

A yellow card to Rosko Specman for not retreating 10 metres from a penalty made the Blitzboks’ challenge even tougher, as they were already with the injured Philip Snyman, while Kwagga Smith was suspended for a high tackle that earned him a yellow card in the 12-7 semi-final defeat to Australia.

That left further holes in the defence, and Oscar Kolinisau ran in the third try just before halftime to hand Fiji a 21-0 lead at the break.

The South Africans got themselves back into the game immediately after halftime as Dylan Sage rounded off following a thrilling break by Specman, and then Sandile Ngcobo showed searing pace to dot down with his first touch after Sage won the kickoff to take the score to 21-12.

But any hope of a fairytale comeback was snuffed out quickly by Fiji as Savenaca Rawaca put the final nail in the Blitzbok coffin after an Amenoni Nasilasila line-break.

Meanwhile in an exciting final refereed by South African Rasta Rasivhenge, Rieko Ioane was the hero for New Zealand as he scored a hat trick, including the late winner to break Australian hearts.

The Aussies gave as good as they got against a star-studded Kiwi outfit that included Sonny Bill Williams, captain Tim Mikkelson and Kurt Baker, with the hosts not overawed despite fielding a relatively inexperienced side headlined by captain Ed Jenkins and Lewis Holland.

It was 18-year-old Henry Hutchison who sparked Australia into life when he showed tremendous pace to finish off Cam Clark’s electric break up the middle and give the hosts a 7-0 lead.

But then it became the Ioane show as brothers Akira and Rieko combined after Baker made an outstanding breakdown turnover inside the New Zealand 22 to level the scores at 7-7.

Rasivhenge then made a huge decision as he yellow-carded Williams for a high tackle that looked rather innocuous, and probably deserved nothing more than a penalty.

While Williams was off the field for two minutes, Hutchison struck again as James Stannard and Holland drew the defence to create the space on the outside and put Australia ahead once more.

But you can’t keep a player of Williams’ calibre quiet for too long, and the two-times Rugby World Cup champion with the All Blacks showed his star quality when he expertly won the kickoff and found Baker flying on his outside, with Baker going all the way to draw level at 12-12 at halftime.

It was end-to-end stuff at the Allianz Stadium as tries from Sam Myers for Australia and Mikkelson for New Zealand saw the score remained locked at 17-17.

But then Clark – son of renowned TV commentator Greg – cut the line once more to set up Greg Jedoulev, who outpaced the Kiwi cover defence. Stannard landed the conversion to give Australia a 24-17 advantage with two minutes left, and it looked like an upset was on the cards.

The 18-year-old Rieko Ioane, though, wasn’t done yet, dotting down twice in the closing moments to record a hat trick, as well as the Player of the Tournament award.

The next leg of the World Series will be in Las Vegas on March 4-6, with the Blitzboks drawn with USA, Canada and Wales in Pool D.

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Points-Scorers: SA v Fiji

South Africa – Tries: Dylan Sage, Sandile Ngcobo. Conversion: Rosko Specman (1).

Fiji – Tries: Jerry Tuwai, Semi Kunatani, Oscar Kolinisau, Savenaca Rawaca. Conversions: Vatemo Ravouvou (3).

 

Points-Scorers: Australia v New Zealand

Australia – Tries: Henry Hutchison, Greg Jedoulev, Sam Myers. Conversions: James Stannard (2).

New Zealand – Tries: Rieko Ioane (3), Kurt Baker, Tim Mikkelson. Conversions: Baker (1).

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