Surprisingly close encounters added spice to the opening day of the
Commonwealth Games rugby sevens today (Friday) at City of Manchester
Stadium with Kenya pulling off the biggest upset of the day by defeating
Samoa 28-20.
With the top two teams from each pool not meeting until Saturday, the
expectation may have been of some one-sided matches, but things didn't
turn out that way.
England, hoping to be competing for the gold medal come Sunday, played
the Cook Islands. Tries by Amosa Amosa and Lance Fitzpatrick gave the
Cooks a shock lead but Rob Thirlby and Ben Gollings pulled England level
before half-time.
The Cooks missed a good chance to score after the break, and in the end
England's Josh Lewsey scored a late brace to seal the game 24-12.
England captain Phil Greening said: "It's always tough to get the first
game out of the way, the Cooks put up a good fight, but we didn't play
anything like we wanted to, so we've got a hell of a lot of work to do."
England also had to battle hard and late to get past Kenya, who led 12-5
at the breather after two tries from John Mitchell Otieno.
Former Rugby League star Henry Paul became England's hero, as he had
done when they won the Hong Kong 7s in March. Paul's pair of tries saw
England take the match 33-12.
Paul said afterwards: "Kenya are really athletic blokes, they kept the
ball alive and supported each other well. But we're a fit team, so
hopefully that will bode well later on in the tournament. Sevens is open
rugby... you can't expect to go through a tournament with no-one scoring
against you."
Also in Pool C, Kenya battled back from 20-7 down to score three
unanswered tries and pull off the remarkable victory over Samoa.
Kenya captain Benjamin Ayimba said: "We really worked hard for it, we
never underestimated the opposition. We were down in the first half, and
it looked bad, but we picked up on our defence. That's why we won."
Samoa's Fred Tuilagi, who plays for English club Leicester, admitted
that the result was good for the game.
Tuilagi said: "We were surprised by the way Kenya played, they've come a
long way and it's good for the game and the spectators too. It's good to
see another team coming up."
Samoa regrouped to beat the Cooks 43-5 as veteran winger Brian Lima
scored a hat trick of tries and young playmaker Fa'apito Matagitau
grabbed two.
Hot favoutites New Zealand were also made to work hard for their opening
28-7 win over a stubborn Canada, and needed the usual example to be set
by evergreen skipper Eric Rush.
Shane Thompson put Canada ahead, Chris Masoe levelled for the Kiwis
before Rush dotted down two tries at the end of the first half then
Amasio Raoma added a fourth after the interval.
"We were pretty scratchy," Rush said. "But if there was any complacency,
there certainly won't be now. The competition's going to be tough. I've
seen three or four teams that can win it."
Fiji could be one of the teams after beating Malaysia 73-0 then winning
against Trinidad & Tobago 75-0 in Pool D. Top scorers for the Fijians
were Rupeni Caucau and Vilimoni Delasau with six tries each.
Also looking well in Pool D are Australia, who beat Trinidad & Tobago
59-0 then defeated Malaysia 55-0. ACT Brumbies utility back Mark
Bartholomeusz scored a hat trick of tries against the Caribbean side,
while Canberra team-mate Tim Atkinson picked up four in the second
match.
But the top score of the day went to Chester Williams' South Africa, who
beat Sri Lanka 82-0 in the penultimate match of the day. A hat trick
apiece went to Luke Watson and Conrad Jantjes while Jean de Villiers,
Fabian Juries and Eugene Francis scored two each.
South Africa had to fight off a brave challenge from Tonga in their
opening game before winning 26-12, thanks partly to two tries from
George Muller.
Tonga's Epi Taione, who plays for English club Newcastle, and former
soccer international Taunaholo Taufahema crossed the line for the
Friendly Islanders.
Tonga later lost to Wales 31-10. And in Wales' first match, Gareth Wyatt
scored four second half tries to see off Sri Lanka 55-7.
One of the biggest roars of the day from the 25,000-strong crowd came
for Hayden Head of Niue Island, whose try momentarily tied the scores at
5-5 against Scotland. Niue has a population of just 1,700, with an
estimated 200 players. Scotland went on to win 54-5, but the Niue
Islanders were very pleased with their performance.
"I ran the 100m and the 4x100m relay during the athletics," Niue's Matt
Faleuka said. "Now, it's a different sport, it's just amazing. I played
alongside guys I haven't played with in ages. For us, it's great just
meeting our heroes."
Results:
England 24 Cook Islands 12
Samoa 20 Kenya 28
Fiji 73 Malaysia 0
Australia 59 Trinidad & Tobago 0
New Zealand 28 Canada 7
Scotland 54 Niue 5
South Africa 26 Tonga 12
Wales 57 Sri Lanka 7
England 33 Kenya 12
Samoa 43 Cook Islands 5
Fiji 75 Trinidad & Tobago 0
Australia 55 Malaysia 0
New Zealand 66 Niue 0
Scotland 0 Canada 7
South Africa 82 Sri Lanka 0
Wales 31 Tonga 10