Some are now calling the New Zealand sevens team the best ever after they emphatically clinched their first Hong Kong title in seven years to extend their winning streak to 42 games and seven consecutive IRB tournament wins.
Some are now calling the New Zealand sevens team the best ever after they emphatically trumped a powerful lineup in Hong Kong over the weekend. After thumping South Africa 26-12 in the final, New Zealand has now set its sights on winning the remaining legs of the current IRB World Sevens Series.
Already the Gordon Tietjens coached side has won 42 matches on the trot without defeat, collecting seven consecutive Series titles, including the prized Hong Kong crown. With the IRB 2007-2008 crown in the bag – the next step now is perfection to achieve what no other New Zealand, albeit international side has done – going through an entire season undefeated.
Steven Yates was top try-scorer in Hong Kong with eight, including one in the final, as NZ captured its first Hong Kong Sevens title since 2001. But it was a total team effort, an almost flawless performance from a side with no weaknesses. The balance in the NZ side is breathtaking, from the power finishing of Victor Vito outwide, to the workhorse front three unit of captain DJ Forbes, Edwin Cocker and Yates, in for the injured regular Tafai Ioasa, to the dazzling playmaking of Tomasi Cama, Lote Raikabula and to the guile and speed of Zar Lawrence.
New Zealand's victory against South Africa in the final them another 30 points for the series, extending their lead over closest rivals South Africa to 38 points and all but close out their Series defence.
They also take home the generous $100,000 prize purse allocated to the Hong Kong winners.
The kiwis got off to the best possible start, Raikabula crossing early on before setting Yates for another try, both of which were converted by Tomasi Cama, the player of the tournament.
Mzandile Stick pulled one back for the Boks, who have been by far the closest challengers to New Zealand over the last two series events, but more pressure was to follow from the men in black and a second Raikabula score made it 21-7 at the break.
Zar Lawrence crossed in the second half to extend the lead and although the Boks fought back New Zealand's defensive cordon was impenetrable until Fabian Juries late try brought more respectablity to the scoreline, which ended 26-12.
South Africa will take consolation from making their first ever Hong Kong Cup final, and in consolidating their second place in the series standings, but New Zealand's utter dominance this season continues unchecked.
Earlier in the semis, South Africa edged last year’s winners Samoa in a thriller while New Zealand slammed the Fijians with Vito outstanding. Samoa could question the last act of their encounter with the Boks as they were refused a video decision when it appeared they scored a try in the corner after the hooter. Samoan captain Uale Mai became the most capped IRB Sevens player in history in Hong Kong, eclipsing the previous record of 50 IRB tournament appearances by former NZ playmaker Amasio Valence Raoma.
France win Plate thriller
France won their first silverware of the season, beating the Pumas of Argentina 17-14 after a minute of sudden death extra time.
France got off to a flying start with first half tries from Vincent Roux and Simon Sarthou, while Argentina responded through Gonzalo Camacho to leave the match delicately balanced 14-7 at the interval. The second half was a tense affair, but it was Argentina who scored the only try of the half through Gabriel Ascarte to level the scores and take the match into extra time sudden death.
With the scores locked at 14-14, France pressed for an early score and secured their first silverware of the 2007/08 series with a Simon Sarthou penalty drop kick after just 41 seconds.
Russia retain Hong Kong Bowl
Claude Saurel's bright young Russian side beat off the challenge of pacy Zimbabwe to retain the Hong Kong Bowl, 19-14.
Gerald Sibanda and Tendayi Hondo scored early on for the Africans but Sergey Belousov's effort kept the Russians in touch, down 14-7 at the break. Oleg Kobzev's effort brought the scores level soon after before flyer Aleksandr Gvozdovskiy raced clear to break the deadlock and hand victory to the Russians, who also take one point for the overall Series.
Earlier Zimbabwe beat off the brave challenge of host nation Hong Kong and Russia had proved too strong for Korea.
HONG KONG SEVENS RESULTS:
Pool A: US 38 Taiwan 17, NZ 38 Tunisia 0, Tunisia 66 Taiwan 5, NZ 47 US 7.
Pool B: England 47 Sri Lanka 7, Samoa 36 Canada 12, Canada 53 Sri Lanka 0, England 7 Samoa 5.
Pool C: Argentina 19 Japan 5, South Africa 48 Russia 0, Russia 24 Japan 12, South Africa 19 Argentina 14.
Pool D: Wales 34 Korea 5, Fiji 42 Zimbabwe 14, Zimbabwe 21 Korea 5, Fiji 15 Wales 0.
Pool E: China 19 Scotland 12, Kenya 19 Portugal 7, Portugal 40 China 10, Kenya 19 Scotland 7.
Pool F: Tonga 56 Hong Kong 5, Australia 17 France 12, France 21 Hong Kong 21, Australia 17 Tonga 15.
Quarterfinals: NZ 26 Wales 7, Fiji 10 Kenya 0, South Africa 19 Australia 14, Samoa 17 England 12.
Semifinals: South Africa 12 – 10 Samoa, New Zealand 34 - 0 Fiji
Bowl Final: Zimbabwe 14 - 19 Russia
Plate Final: Argentina 14 - 17 France
Cup Final: New Zealand 26 - 12 South Africa
Overall Standings
New Zealand 110
South Africa 72
Fiji 62
Samoa 56
Kenya 32
Argentina 29
England 26
Australia 22
Wales 18
Scotland 16
Statistics
Tries:
Steven Yates NZL 8
Tomasi Cama NZL 6
Alafoti Fa'osiliva SAM 6
Fabian Juries RSA 6
Chris Wyles USA 6
Points:
Tomasi Cama NZL 68
Simon Sarthou FRA 44
Steven Yates NZL 40
Ben Gollings ENG 35
Lavin Asego KEN 35
Quotes:
Gordon Tietjens, New Zealand coach coach:
“I am very proud of them in putting all those games together and we did it pretty convincingly too. We had a magnificent semi final against Fiji and had a slow start against Wales in the quarters, but we topped it off with a good performance in the final against South Africa.
“The physicality of my players in contact was outstanding and keeping the ball when we needed to and also scoring some good tries to go with it. You know it was a really good team performance.
“Hong Kong is special. It is not just about winning, look at all the people here and all the activities and it means a lot to us as do the 30 points for winning.
“It is never done and dusted, We still have three tournaments to go. We want to do well at Adelaide, which is important for us.
“DJ Forbes leads from the front and he is ruthless in the contact areas and is just a great leader who inspires the players. He is a different kind of captain to Meesam or Rush, but he is a special captain.
DJ Forbes, New Zealand captain:
“It is special to us and we have made a bit of history which is something that the boys can be proud of. We want to be a team that is remembered and hopefully we have done that. I cannot say enough about the boys, we have done a lot of hard work this year, put a few things together and we are unbeaten.
“Seven tournaments in a row is pretty special and five this year is something that will go down in the record books but we still want to finish strong and perform in Adelaide.
“The only thing that is going to stop us is ourselves and our errors. We pride ourselves on our defence. Out of the six matches we limited each side to a max of two tries per match, so we are proud of that. Gordon (Tietjens) has been in the game for 14 years, while this is the first season for the majority of us, so the experience makes a real difference.
