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Fiji Wins 2012 London Sevens; NZ Retains World Series Title

Fiji have won the Marriott London Sevens but New Zealand have retained their HSBC Sevens World Series title, ending the season with a third place finish at London Sevens to finish on 167 Series points, six ahead of Fiji, their closest rival.

A record two-day Sevens crowd of 103,027 attended Twickenham over the weekend, a fitting climax to another thrilling season of international rugby sevens.

The Fijians stormed to the London title to cap a season of achievement for them, matching New Zealand’s three Cup titles and underlining just how tight things are at the top of the men’s sevens game.

The New Zealanders sealed a 10th Series title with a ruthless 36-0 quarter-final win against South Africa, but fell to a brilliant Fijian performance in the semi final.

The New Zealanders later recovered to end the season on a high note, beating Argentina in the play-off for bronze.

Australia won the Plate (finishing in sixth place), Wales lifted the Bowl and France were triumphant in the Shield.

On the women’s side, the England Women won their second IRB Women’s Sevens Challenge Cup.

England narrowly missed the Plate

England narrowly missed out on the consolation of a Plate trophy when Dan Bibby missed a conversion and a penalty drop goal in the second half of the Plate final, allowing Australia to hang on to a 14-12 victory and collect 13 Series points.

Mat Turner’s try in the final put him one ahead of teammate Dan Norton as the season’s leading try scorer.

England reached the Plate final after a Turner try and Tom Mitchell conversion clinched a late 17-15 victory against South Africa.

Australia reached the final after the Tokyo Sevens winners overturned a 12-5 half time deficit to beat Spain 17-12 in the semi.

Wales beat Scotland in Bowl

Twelve points from Alex Walker helped to give Wales a 27-5 victory against Scotland in the Bowl, as the reigning RWC Sevens champions collected eight points for the Series.

Two second half tries, one after the final buzzer had sounded, from Dan Fish booked Wales’ place in the Bowl final after a 28-26 victory against Portugal. They met Scotland following Graham Shiel’s side recorded a 31-19 victory against Zimbabwe in the second semi final thanks to two tries from Michael Fedo.

Earlier, 11 points from Alex Walker helped Wales beat USA 28-19 in the second Bowl quarter, entering this competition having lost to Spain and Fiji on day one.

Carl Murray scored twice for Portugal in the day’s opening match against RWC Sevens 2013 hosts Russia. The sides last met in the core team qualifying quarter-final in Hong Kong, with Portugal narrowly winning 17-10 on their way to claiming one of the three places for next season’s Series, and recorded a 24-17 victory in London.

In the third match Scotland beat crowd favourites Kenya 21-5 before Dubai Sevens runners-up France suffered a 19-17 defeat to Zimbabwe with Jacques Leitao scoring the winning try for the Cheetahs.

Watch a short video including an interview with England Coach Ben Ryan here:


About Ellaine

Ellaine is the founder of FRN and author of "Mini and Youth Rugby: Complete Guide for Coaches and Parents" (published October 2015). She has been playing rugby union for over 10 years in the UK and the US for teams including Oxford University Blues, London Wasps, Henley, NOVA, and GWU. She has recently developed a love for rugby 7s and has played on several international rugby 7s teams. She also enjoys playing touch rugby and regularly plays for the FRN Mixed Touch Rugby team. She is passionate about helping others develop a love for rugby. View all posts by Ellaine

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