Wales completed the day with the same profile of two wins and a draw as Samoa but with a smaller points difference than the south sea islanders
The unbeaten run for Wales in the pool stages, a draw against Samoa and wins over Kenya and Arabian Gulf was a boost for coach Paul John and his squad in the first leg of the new HSBC Sevens World Series.
He said : “We couldn’t get a squad together quickly so we had very little preparation time but the saving grace of this squad is that most of the boys have been involved in sevens before.
“To start the way we did against Samoa helped. The boys rose to the challenge and really believed in themselves. At the end the boys were disappointed coming off the pitch with just a draw because we were 21-7 up at one point”.
Wales began first day of the Emirates Airline Dubai Sevens with a potentially difficult tie against the Samoa. It was the World champions against the World Series title holders. In the event Wales played as world champions matching the south sea islanders with skill and passion in a 21-21 drawn game.
Scarlets scrum half Lee Rees gave Wales and early lead with a try under the posts converted by Gareth Davies and then when the pacy Ifan Evans ran in a second try for Wales, again converted by Davies, the world champions were 14-0 ahead.
Samoa responded with a converted try by their master tactician Lolo Lui to finish the half tailing 14-7. Wales then extended their lead with a second half try from Tom Isaac converted this time by Rhys Jones but from then on it was Samoa who grabbed the points with two converted tries to square the tie.
Then what proved to be another crunch match against the group number two seeds, Kenya who had earlier beaten a well organised Arabian Gulf side 31-9.
Wales trailed Kenya 5-7 at the break, the Welsh points coming from their prolific scorer Ifan Evans. Then in the second half Wales, who brought on Rhys Shellard, struck with a second try from Evans before having to defend sternly as Kenya poured on the pressure, finally resulting in a try from Leon Adongo.
But Wales hit back in the best possible way, working the ball up the field before wing Aaron Shingler, taking cutting to an inside channel, grabbed the crucial score for Wales to emerge 17-12 winners.
In the final pool match against Arabian Gulf it was Wales all the way with tries by Aaron Shingler (2), Rhys Jones, Jevon Groves, Rhys Shellard and Tom Isaacs adding up to a 47-5 over the host union.
Jevon Groves (capt, Dragons), Lee Rees (Scarlets), Rhys Jones (Newport), Gareth Davies (Cardiff), Tom Isaacs (Ospreys), Owen Williams (Blues), Rhodri Gomer-Davies (Dragons), Ifan Evans (Llandovery), Gavin Dacey (Pontypridd), Rhys Shellard (Cardiff), Richie Pugh (Scarlets), Aaron Shingler (Scarlets)
Emirates Airline Dubai Sevens Cup quarter finals. New Zealand v Wales, Samoa v USA, Australia v England, Fiji v South Africa Bowl quarter finals Kenya v Argentina, Zimbabwe v Arabian Gulf, Scotland v France, Portugal v Russia.
