Dubai Sevens - England are the Winners two years in a row...! Well Done England

England beat France in a fine Cup final 29-12 to defend the Emirates Airline Dubai Sevens title they won last year and delight the ex-pat crowd at The Sevens stadium.
In doing so they climb to second in the HSBC Sevens World Series standings, seven points behind Gold Coast champions Fiji. Three nations, New Zealand, France and South Africa, lie three points adrift of England ahead of round 3 in Port Elizabeth next weekend.

Tries by Isoa Damu and Dan Norton gave England an early 12-0 lead in a physical encounter. France hit back through their own pace man Renaud Delmas to cut the lead to five points, but two tries by Player of the Tournament Mat Turner put England 24-7 ahead at half time.
Delmas clawed one back for France soon after the break, but England worked hard in defense to hold their lead and in the dying seconds Rob Vickerman crossed to cap a fine win.
For France it was a first Cup final appearance on the World Series since 2005.
After suffering defeat at the hands of England in the semi finals, Fiji defeated Argentina in sudden death extra time in the Bronze final, Livai Ikanikoda scoring his second of the match to secure victory.
In the other trophies, Australia's Leiws Holland scored with the last play of the Plate final to beat South Africa 17-14. Andrew Turnbull was the difference in the Bowl final, his hat trick inspiring Scotland to a 26-0 victory against USA, and Samoa defeated Kenya to lift the Shield.

Last-minute try secures Plate for Australia

Lewis Holland scored a try in the final play of the Plate final to help Australia beat South Africa 17-14 and lift the Plate.
Michael O'Connor's side had earlier beaten defending Series champions New Zealand 26-12 in the semi-final, inflicting a third successive defeat for the first time in Sevens history on Gordon Tietjens' team.
Greg Jeloudev, Jesse Parahi, Con Foley and Lewis Holland all scored first-half tries against the defending Series champions whilst South Africa beat Wales 22-7 to reach the final.
Turnbull hat trick fires Scotland to Bowl

Scotland triumphed in the Bowl final 26-0 against USA to remain unbeaten on day two and clinch eight Series points.

New World Series try centurion Andrew Turnbull added three more to his tally to make it 10 for the tournament and captain Colin Gregor rounded off the convincing win.
Earlier, USA progressed to the final with a 33-17 victory against neighbours Canada, while Scotland raced to a 19-0 lead at half time in theirs before Portugal hit back with three second-half tries, but decisively they were only able to convert once.
Earlier Mike Palefau's hat-trick helped the USA to a 41-7 victory against Zimbabwe, their second victory against the cheetahs in five meetings, and Scotland had beaten hosts UAE 40-5.

Samoa's first Shield ends in triumph
Having entered the Shield competition for the first time Samoa ended the Dubai Sevens on a high with a 31-17 victory against Kenya thanks to two tries from Paul Perez and collected three Series points in the process.
In the semi-finals Tom Iosefo scored twice in Samoa's 21-12 semi-final victory against Zimbabwe whilst Kenya beat hosts UAE 35-5.

SA playing some great stuff here. Robert Ebershon in for the second try at HT 14-0 to SA

Pool A

Fiji (FIJ) 9
Argentina (ARG) 6
Samoa (SAM) 6
UAE (UAE) 3


Pool B

New Zealand (NZL) 6
South Africa (RSA) 6
Portugal (POR) 5
United States (USA) 3


Pool C


England (ENG) 6
France (FRA) 6
Zimbabwe (ZIM) 5
Kenya (KEN) 3


Pool D

Wales (WAL) 9
Australia (AUS) 7
Scotland (SCO) 5
Canada (CAN) 3

Wales are doing well this season.

Beat England and Samoa last week, Aus this week.

Hopefully they will be able to beat NZ and SA next.

Argentina in the 1/4s it would appear - Should be able to get to the semis then

Well NZ are not looking their usually brilliant selves here.. currently getting pasted by SA 21 points to 5

Eng vs Fra

17 - 12 to Eng 2nd half

Great win over Aus, not a side we beat regularly in (or out of) Sevens.

Two tournaments, two group toppers so far. C'mon now, beat the Pumas to go one better from last week!

Quarter Finals Draw

11:08 FIJI vs AUSTRALIA
Plays winner of
11:32 ENGLAND vs NEW ZEALAND


11:54 WALES vs ARGENTINA
Plays winner of
12:16 SOUTH AFRICA vs FRANCE

I said last week, do you think contracting players to the Sevens circuit has made us better at the game?

I hate how we always come up against SA, NZ and Fiji - the three best teams in the comp before reaching the final! We really need to target a win against South Africa, never beaten them in this competition as far as I'm aware. We've beat NZ twice though. Not sure about Fiji, but the scoreline against them last week was dismal.

This is like our A team so we should all hop on the band wagon.

maes, do you know of any highlights being shown? And when those KO games are on?

I think they are covering everything on Sky Sports over the weekend.

Wales are doing well, got some very good prospects in our squad, big lads with pace and skill like Richard Smith, the two Owen Williams and Will Price... Though it is Ifan Evans who has looked sharpest.

Prydie looked fast but not able to get on the score sheet yet...!

Well that's just great. The reward for topping the pool is playing against New Zealand...

If we somehow win then Fiji would likely be next...

Morgannwg they might be the 3 best but England are always in the mix.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRB_Sevens_World_Series


Wales are statistically the 9th best ever Sevens team.

Beshocked, I was aware England have been one of the most successful Sevens teams in the past along with the mentioned 3. But the past two seasons sees them not worthy of a mention. Head to head between Wales and England I think it's 12 - 9 in your favour.

You should also consider Wales went a decade (or more) without a sevens team whilst the others continued.

*EDIT - highlights on S4C @ 11:05 for those Welsh who would like to see us slam Australia before slamming them again the next day .

Well spotted Morgan

beshocked wrote:Well that's just great. The reward for topping the pool is playing against New Zealand...

If we somehow win then Fiji would likely be next...

Morgannwg they might be the 3 best but England are always in the mix.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRB_Sevens_World_Series


Wales are statistically the 9th best ever Sevens team.

The tables have turned a bit this year, England vs ABs should be a close match they are very similar sides, neither as good as they were last year, but still a threat.

Fiji have really lit this years tournament alight, as have SA and to a lesser degree Wales who are rocketing up the leader board with a very good squad this season.

Current Leader Board

1 FIJI 22
2 NEW ZEALAND 19
3 SOUTH AFRICA 17
4 AUSTRALIA 15
5 WALES 13
6 SAMOA 12
7 ENGLAND 10
8 FRANCE 10
9 ARGENTINA 8
10 SCOTLAND 7
11 TONGA 5
12 UNITED STATES 5
13 PAPUA NEW GUINEA 3
14 JAPAN 2
15 KENYA 1
16 NIUE 0

Morgannwg wrote:Beshocked, I was aware England have been one of the most successful Sevens teams in the past along with the mentioned 3. But the past two seasons sees them not worthy of a mention. Head to head between Wales and England I think it's 12 - 9 in your favour.

You should also consider Wales went a decade (or more) without a sevens team whilst the others continued.

*EDIT - highlights on S4C @ 11:05 for those Welsh who would like to see us slam Australia before slamming them again the next day .

You do know England finished 3rd (above Fiji) last season ? I guess that's not worthy of a mention ? Or do you have to finish 4th in a tournament for it to be worth something these days ?

Why have you turned it into England v Wales ?

In the last two seasons there have been 16 IRB Sevens tournaments, so there is no way England and Wales have played each other 21 times. Including the completed tournament of the 2011-2012 series and it's currently 4-1 to England.

I'm not sure how Wales are rocketing up the leader board as only one round has been played

Morgannwg wrote:Beshocked, I was aware England have been one of the most successful Sevens teams in the past along with the mentioned 3. But the past two seasons sees them not worthy of a mention. Head to head between Wales and England I think it's 12 - 9 in your favour.

You should also consider Wales went a decade (or more) without a sevens team whilst the others continued.

*EDIT - highlights on S4C @ 11:05 for those Welsh who would like to see us slam Australia before slamming them again the next day .

I tell you what mate, if we play as well as we did today against the Argentinians tomorrow we could make the finals. Lets hope the French can get a result over the South Africans as them and Fiji look the best two teams so far.

Still we may be able to do a job on SA for the first time if we have to, and if we play well.

Does Ireland have a sevens team anymore?

Not this year, Scotland have withdrawn too. Shame both nations would be a great addition

Coverage starts on Sky Sports 1 at 07:00 tomorrow morning

maestegmafia wrote:Not this year, Scotland have withdrawn too. Shame both nations would be a great addition

Scotland are playing - Wales beat them this week and last

yep your right. apologies...!

England rugby fan wrote:
You do know England finished 3rd (above Fiji) last season ? I guess that's not worthy of a mention ? Or do you have to finish 4th in a tournament for it to be worth something these days ?

Why have you turned it into England v Wales ?

I haven't turned into England v Wales. I mentioned a statistic to beshocked. Now you're the one who has gone on to try and turn it into England v Wales. You don't get tired of being sad, old and bitter eh.

4th in a tournament for it to be worth something? Remind us who the WORLD CUP CHAMPIONS at sevens are!

fan AKA England rugby embarrassment strikes again!

I thought Ireland doesnt play sevens because the games are too far away.

England rugby fan wrote:

You do know England finished 3rd (above Fiji) last season ? I guess that's not worthy of a mention ? Or do you have to finish 4th in a tournament for it to be worth something these days ?

Why have you turned it into England v Wales ?

In the last two seasons there have been 16 IRB Sevens tournaments, so there is no way England and Wales have played each other 21 times. Including the completed tournament of the 2011-2012 series and it's currently 4-1 to England.

I'm not sure how Wales are rocketing up the leader board as only one round has been played

You are Nottins aren't you. Your writing style is the same, your pointless barracking is the same.

I didnt know that posters who were banned were allowed to re-join with a different i-D...?

maes, good point. I wondered where "Nottins" had gone. Turns out that he is just under another ID. Nice work on fingering him. The fan got fingered! Boom!

I find it annoying to see Niue (Population less then 15,000) there and Ireland does not have a team, if we could be bothered we could have a half decent team. Hopefully we will have a team for the 2016 Olympics or before, Simon Zebo is an example of a players who would benifit from playing 7s, not playing for Munster but talented and has a good skill set for 7s and full rugby, and there are many more like him, Fionn Carr possibly one of them, there is being something done about it but just 10 years too late.

IC

Watching the Ulster game half that backline would do a great job in the sevens comp

Yeah thats true, not sure if Marshell(that center) was playing but he would fit in well too, some very good talent in Ireland for 7s, its the one thing the IRFU has missed since professionalism.

I wonder if the Republic will play in the Olympics?

I hope so, the players from Northern Ireland will get a choice between Ireland and the UK

Could be a great competition. there are some exciting players on both the British and the Irish teams.

I agree but their wont be any gold or silver medals for them, I would think Fiji, New Zealand will get silver and gold, bronze will be up for grads seeing its 5 years out.

On a side note I though Samoa were better then that? only 6th?

Only Samoans living in samoa are eligible for selection in ther Manu Samoan sevens team. thay are capable of going to a tournament and winning it then three weeks later going to another tournament and end up fighting for the plate.

Morgannwg wrote:

England rugby fan wrote:
You do know England finished 3rd (above Fiji) last season ? I guess that's not worthy of a mention ? Or do you have to finish 4th in a tournament for it to be worth something these days ?

Why have you turned it into England v Wales ?

I haven't turned into England v Wales. I mentioned a statistic to beshocked. Now you're the one who has gone on to try and turn it into England v Wales. You don't get tired of being sad, old and bitter eh.

4th in a tournament for it to be worth something? Remind us who the WORLD CUP CHAMPIONS at sevens are!

fan AKA England rugby embarrassment strikes again!

You turned it into England v Wales by mentioning a made up statistic, no comment as to how inaccurate and wrong you were.

If someone is going to make something up then I'm going to comment as to how wrong you are.

England rugby fan wrote:
In the last two seasons there have been 16 IRB Sevens tournaments, so there is no way England and Wales have played each other 21 times. Including the completed tournament of the 2011-2012 series and it's currently 4-1 to England.

The statistic was mentioned on Sky Sports on the same day you lost to Wales, get it? So not sure how I can make it up. I assume it was an overall head to head in sevens not just the past two tournaments. Why would someone mention a stat from just the past two tournaments nottins, stop making things up . Like I said, I mentioned the stat and you falsely accused me of turning it to England v Wales when it was you who crawled up out of your hole and did just that. Funny how you always seem to pop up to pointlessly argue with people and turn it into an England v Wales thread. Have you not got anything better to do in life?

If you're going to try and point out somebody is wrong, then try not to be wrong in the first place.

No comment as to 4th place or winning the world cup being worth something then seeing as Wales are the World Cup champions?

You said England were 12-9 up in head to heads against Wales in the last two seasons, you didn't say Sky had said that.

Morgannwg wrote:But the past two seasons sees them not worthy of a mention. Head to head between Wales and England I think it's 12 - 9 in your favour.

Which also proves that you first mentioned England v Wales

There were only 8 tournaments in each of the last two seasons, so it is IMPOSSIBLE for them to have played each other 21 time

I'm not exactly sure where I mentioned a stat from the last two tournaments, perhaps you could point out where I did.

I get the feeling I am hitting my head against a wall here. Who cares if I didn't orginally mention whether Sky mentioned it. Just because it proves you wrong you have to stoop to those pedantic levels? I didn't state it as a fact either, I said "I think.." because I was going by what the Sky Sports commentator said.How pathetic are you?

I am not turning it into "England v Wales" which is an England v Wales thread, that which you falsely accused me of doing. Not sure how much more clear I can make that. You mentioned the last two tournaments in the last quote I pulled up, as you did just then. I said perhaps it was an OVERALL stat, unless you believe sevens has only been in existence for two seasons?

You're just digging an even bigger hole here, something nottins was famed for when completely wrong . I think the mods need to take action against this banned user constantly wrecking MMs threads.

Read again what you posted about the last two seasons. You were proven wrong as the head to head is 4-1 to England, not 12-9.

You've been proven to be wrong, yet you insist you aren't, keep digging.

England rugby fan wrote:Read again what you posted about the last two seasons. You were proven wrong as the head to head is 4-1 to England, not 12-9.

You've been proven to be wrong, yet you insist you aren't, keep digging.

But that was you mistaking me saying the head to head was for the past two seasons when I clearly didn't mean that. I was repeating a stat about England/Wales overall head to head record, as it was said on Sky Sports. They said it was overall stat (not just for the past two seasons as you keep going on about because you took something I said the wrong way) and I merely repeated it. So I'm not wrong. No hole been dug here by me . So let me know how it feels to be wrong, as I don't know the feeling .

Linebreaker, I'm enjoying the spectacle. Not sure if any England rugby fans are at the momenth though .

That's good Morgan... I know there is no shovel in your hand.

You did NOT say it was something that was mentioned on Sky. You did not say it was an overall stat. You said England had done nothing over the last two years in 7's, except for finishing 3rd last year. You said England were 12-9 in the head to head against Wales over the last two seasons. I'm not sure how much more wrong you can be.

I'm sure there are plenty of England rugby fans in Dubai enjoying the spectacle.

I have actually stated that a Sky Sports commentator had mentioned it several times now . I repeated that, so I'm really not wrong and not dug any hole apart from watch someone else dig their hole. Look at my previous comment as that should tell you all you need to know.

You were proven wrong and then blamed it on Sky for you being wrong. Classic case of blaming someone else when you're proven to be wrong.

So for all the posturing above

Today's results include

Wales 5 Argentina 7

England 10 New Zealand 7

Business as usual ?

Fiji hammer Australia and will play England who sneaked a win against NZ.

Argentina sneaked a win against Wales and will play France who beat SA with ease.

Latest Results

SOUTH AFRICA 5 - 19 FRANCE 1/4 final Cup

WALES 5 - 7 ARGENTINA 1/4 final Cup

ENGLAND 10 - 7 NEW ZEALAND 1/4 final Cup

FIJI 34 - 7 AUSTRALIA 1/4 final Cup

14:08 AUSTRALIA vs NEW ZEALAND SF Plate

14:30 WALES vs SOUTH AFRICA SF Plate

17:02 FIJI vs ENGLAND SF Cup

17:24 ARGENTINA vs FRANCE SF Cup

Scotland into bowl final. They were 19-0 up at the half and won 19-17!