South Africa deny Aussies second consecutive Sevens Plate victory

May 28, 2007 - 11:14am
Story by: ARU

The Australian Sevens rugby team has been defeated 14-5 by South Africa in the Plate Final of the London Sevens early this morning (AEST) at Twickenham.

New Zealand kept alive its hopes of winning the Series after overcoming reigning Sevens World Champions Fiji, 29-7 in the Cup Final.

After victories against Canada and Georgia on the opening day to qualify for the quarter finals, an improving Australian outfit was looking to snare a semi final berth at the expense of Fiji.

However, Fijian captain and Sevens legend Waisale Serevi and company proved too elusive for the young Australians and ran out 26-10 winners to qualify for the semi finals.

The Aussies then came up against Scotland in the Plate semi finals and quickly put the disappointment of losing to Fiji to bed by edging out the Scots, 15-5 to set up a rematch of the Adelaide Sevens Plate Final against South Africa.

However, the Aussies would not enjoy a second consecutive Plate victory as the Boks held on in the face of a late surge from Glen Ella’s men to win 14-5.

Two converted tries by Gio Aplon put the Boks well in control at 14-0 but were then forced to defend as AJ Gilbert's try nearly sparked a late Aussie comeback.

Australia Coach Glen Ella said the team had backed up their impressive Adelaide performance in London and the inclusion of four Super 14 players had given the squad an extra dimension.

“We were looking to build on our strong tournaments in Hong Kong and Adelaide and finish the Series on a positive note and I believe our performance here has done that,” Ella said.

“The players we brought into the squad were really enthusiastic and gave us more options in attack and stiffened our defence.”

The final leg of the 2006/07 iRB Sevens World Series tournament will be held in Edinburgh starting Saturday, 2 June.

Day Two results:

Cup Quarter Final – Fiji 26 defeatedAustralia 10

Plate Semi Final – Australia 15 defeated Scotland5

Plate Final –South Africa 14 defeated Australia 5

Day One results:

Australia 36 defeated Georgia 0

Australia 24 defeatedCanada 19

Samoa 17 defeatedAustralia 7

Australian Sevens team:

Luke Burgess

Blair Connor

Nick Cummins

Anthony Faingaa

AJ Gilbert

Christian Lealiifano

James Lew

Ben Lucas

Filipe Manu

Ant Sauer (c)

Nathan Trist

Tim Wright



Coach: Glen Ella

Assistant Coach/Manager: Brian Melrose

Physiotherapist: Alan Davies

IRB Sevens World Series Sevens Standings (after round seven)

1. Fiji 120

2. New Zealand 110

3. Samoa 106

4. South Africa 88

5. England 50

6. Australia 32

7. France 28

8. Wales 26

9. Scotland 22

10. Kenya 16

11.Argentina 11

12. Tonga 10

13. Canada 8

14. Tunisia 6

15. Portugal 2

16. USA 2

17. Russia 1