Wales Sevens came out of the blocks quickly in their first match at the IRB Sevens in George producing a 38-0 victory over Uganda Sevens in Pool C putting them straight to the top of the table with one match played. This was the first time the two sides had faced each other in a Sevens tournament and the result would have pleased Coach Dai Rees whose side were never in trouble and cruised to a comfortable result.
With the flying start they wanted so easily achieved Wales Sevens’ George campaign began to falter and they were unable to make it two wins on the spin. Coming up against an Argentina Sevens side that had been taken apart 24-7 by South Africa Sevens and needed a victory to stay afloat in the competition Wales Sevens were consigned to a 12-24 defeat in their second match.
Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino and Pablo Gomez Cora were among the try-scorers for the Pumas and with South Africa Sevens picking up maximum points against Uganda Sevens, 41-0, Wales Sevens were left balanced precariously on four points with Argentina Sevens, ahead on tries scored. Going into the last match of the day, Wales Sevens were left with the unappealing prospect of attempting to overturn South Africa Sevens on their home patch in the last game in order to qualify for the Cup quarter-finals whilst Argentina Sevens had the relatively easy task of beating Uganda Sevens given the day’s earlier results.
As expected, things came down to the wire, with Argentina Sevens beating Uganda Sevens 38-7 to race to the top of the table on seven points, the final match of the day saw Wales Sevens go head to head with South Africa Sevens for a place in the Cup quarter-final. However, if anyone was to have the fairytale ending it was South Africa Sevens, who as host nation, delighted the home crowd with a 31-0 comprehensive whitewash of Wales Sevens with Fabian Juries providing a brace of tries to end day one as as joint leading try-scorer with New Zealand’s Isreal Dagg.
Wales Sevens face Tunisia Sevens for the second week running in the Bowl Quarter-final on Saturday, kick off 10.58am local time (8.58am GMT). Wales Sevens will play in all eight rounds of the IRB World Sevens Series for the first time this season after becoming a core member of the circuit.
