Samoa defeat Australia to win Edinburgh and Sevens World Series

[travelling_gerry]

Samoa win Edinburgh and Sevens World Series

(IRB.COM) Sunday 30 May 2010

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Samoa beat Australia 41-14 in the Edinburgh Sevens Cup final to add the Cup title to their World Series triumph

Samoa produced a ruthless champion performance to overcome Australia 41-14 in the final of the Emirates Airline Edinburgh Sevens, claim their fourth Cup title of the season and rubber-stamp a first IRB Sevens World Series crown.
In producing one of their most disciplined displays of the season, the Samoans extended their final points tally for the season to 164, 15 clear of New Zealand in second place.
After their superb end of the season run, Australia finish third with 122 ahead of Fiji (108), England (96) and South Africa (80).
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In coach Stephen Gemmell's final World Series event, Scotland produced a superb performance to thrill the home crowd and claim the Plate and their first Series points of the season with victory against Argentina. Wales beat Kenya to take the Bowl and Russia took the Shield.
Video: Edinburgh Plays of Day Two

Samoa underline World Series title credentials
Jacob Taylor's try gave Australia the lead after just 15 seconds of the Cup final but Samoa, visibly exhausted following their 27-minute semi final against England, rallied to produce one final killer performance.

The season's top scorer Mikaele Pesamino grabbed one back and Reupena Levasa and Uale Mai also scored to give them a 17-7 half time lead.

Outstanding Australia captain James Stannard pulled one back after the break but again it was Pesamino who restored the lead. Fautua Otto grabbed a quickfire brace to put the match and the Edinburgh title beyond doubt and then Pesamino rounded off a season of extraordinary personal achievement by sealing his hat trick and the 41-14 win, to take his own tally for the season to 56.
Earlier, in a heart-stopping match Samoa beat England 15-12 with a drop goal penalty by captain Lolo Lui in the last seconds of extra time to win their semi final match and land the IRB Sevens World Series title.
In one of the finest Sevens games in living memory, Afa Aiono put the Samoans ahead but Tom Powell levelled up after the break. Mikaele Pesamino looked to have given the Samoans the win and the Series but Greg Barden scored to level it up. Ben Gollings missed the conversion and the game went into extra time. As the tension mounted Lolo Lui missed with a long range drop goal and England withstood concerted Samoan pressure. Not until the last second of extra time did Samoa work a position where Lolo Lui was able to opt for a penalty drop goal, which he cooly slotted to land Samoa their first ever World Series crown.
Australia then responded to the electric atmosphere by coming through in another superb match against trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand, 24-19.
Earlier, Samoa put in a much better performance to beat South Africa 19-0 and put themselves one win away from a first World Series title. Nick Royle broke Scottish hearts by helping England come from behind to beat the hosts.
In the other side of the draw James Stannard was again at his best as Australia came from behind to beat Fiji. New Zealand were then hugely impressive in seeing off spirited Argentina 26-0.
Scotland win Plate
Scotland thrilled the home Murrayfield crowd by following up their strong day one performance with victory in the Plate against Argentina, 19-0.
Having lost against England in the Cup quarters, the hosts recovered brilliantly and fired the crowd with their slick passing game, first overcoming outgoing World Series champions South Africa and then Argentina in a fine final with tries by Andrew Turnbull, Colin Shaw and Ben Cairns. A fitting end to coach Stephen Gemmell's World Series career.
Wales claim Bowl
Wales beat first Canada and then France to reach the final of the Bowl, where they had to come from behind to beat Kenya 26-10.
Twice Kenya took the lead through captain Humphrey Kayange but the Welsh responded with tries from Lloyd Williams before the break and then Craig Hill, Rhys Webb and Rhys Jones in the second half to power to victory.
Russia win Shield
Two tries by Igor Galinovskiy and one apiece for Vladimir Ostroushko and Roman Timofeev wre enough to fire Russia to a fine win 26-7 against Canada in the final of the Shield.
After an opening loss on day two, Russia had earlier won through to the final with a dominant display against Portugal.




http://www.irb.com/irbsevens/edition...s+world+series

[TOCC]

still, another very good performance by the Australian side, it has most definetly been the best season in recent history, made even more impressive by the fact that a lot of the guys playing are teenagers or early 20's

[AndyS]

Props to the Aussies backing up with a second final!