Sport | Rugby
England are the champions
Conquer world series title holders Samoa to register their third Sevens victory in Dubai
- By Alaric Gomes, Senior Reporter
- Published: 00:00 December 5, 2010
- Image Credit: Francois Nel/Gulf News
- England sent the holiday crowd into raptures when they beat World Series Champions Samoa 29-21 to secure their third triumph in the annual event.
Dubai: Two crucial matches, two convincing wins: one against the defending Dubai champions and the other against world champions. And that summed up the euphoria and pedigree of England as they walked away winners in the Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens, the season-opener of the HSBC Sevens World Series, at 7he Sevens yesterday.
England sent the holiday crowd into a tizzy when they came up with a clinical finish to dethrone defending champions New Zealand 19-14 to set a final meeting with world champions Samoa that they went on to win 29-21 and secure their third triumph in Dubai in this annual event.
The England defence stood rock-solid against a jittery All Blacks side that made far too many mistakes and, true to this form of the game, the All Blacks were punished as the experienced Ben Gollings in a league of his own while the gutsy Oliver Lindsay-Hague cashed in on the mistakes to come up with two crucial tries in the first part of the second half to seal a fine victory.
And having come so far, England was in no mood to disappoint their legions of fans at the home of rugby in the Gulf — this time carving out a 29-21 win against the IRB Series world champions Samoa. Gary Chapman, President Group Services and Dnata, Emirates Group presented the trophy to England skipper Ben Gollings in the presence of Andy Cole, Chairman, AGRFU and Marcus Hurry from IRB Series sponsors HSBC.
Prior to that stumble in the semi-final, the All Blacks had shown menacing form in their 35-7 pounding of Wales with Frank Halai getting a couple of tries while Tim Mikkelson, Tomasi Cama and Bryce Heem got their name on the score sheet once each.
Ifan Evans scored a consolation try for the Welsh in the second half, but the All Blacks domination and intentions were always clear. In the top half of the draw it was Samoa working their way hopeful of a repeat of last year's final against the All Blacks with a hard-fought 24-21 win against Fiji, who had earlier drawn on all their reserve and experience to pip South Africa 21-19 on the very last-gasp. Samoa had started off well with a 38-5 win over the USA.
Equally compelling was England's fighting 24-21 win against Australia — thanks mainly to Gollings and an amazing try on the full-time hooter from Dan Caprice.
Early breakthrough
But the day's honours finally went to England as they delivered when it mattered most in front of a packed stadium here. The new champions led early through an Oliver Lindsay-Hague try, only to see the world champions scoring through Simaika Mikaele and Ofisa Treviranus for a 14-5 lead.
But Lindsay-Hague score the second of the final and his fifth in this tournament to narrow it down to 14-12 for England.
The Samoans responded through a tremendous run from Alafoti Fa'osiliva through the heart of the otherwise sturdy England defence early in the second half to go further clear 21-12.
However, England managed to stay in touch through Simon Hunt's third try in this competition to pull them closer 21-17.
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