First up were Argentina, against whom Wales were after some revenge after losing to the South Americans in their previous encounter in Singapore last April.
Ethan Davies opened the scoring for Wales with a try on three minutes, adding the first of his three successful conversions in the process. Jared Rosser then displayed great pace to score a try on debut, with Morgan Williams also to the fore in an assured performance. The win was made all the more impressive by the fact that Wales had a man in the sin bin at one point.
The moment of the match came with time already up on the clock, and Argentina leading 19-14. Sam Cross took a flat pass from fellow captain Luke Treharne to hare away for a try but, heavily marked and on an angle away from the posts, Cross threw an overhead pass back inside to the supporting Ben Roach to score under the posts, ensuring a straightforward conversion and the all-important win.
RE:LIVE: @welshrugbyunion‘s Ben Roach scores after a cheeky basketball pass from @SCrossy ?? pic.twitter.com/jHUiIHkxDV
— World Rugby Sevens (@WorldRugby7s) December 2, 2016
Next up for Wales: Olympic Gold medallists Fiji. It was the men in red who were out of the blocks the quickest, with Owen Jenkins touching down in the third minute (again converted by Davies). Fiji levelled the scores minutes later, before Davies scored a try of his own to give Wales a 7-12 lead at the break.
A raft of second-half replacements for Fiji saw them re-energised, but Wales impressed in holding them to a draw all the way up to the 12th minute, when their opponents scored two unanswered tries for a final score of 24-12.
Wales saved perhaps their best performance till last, beating Canada 31-5 thanks to their coolness in possession and the pace of their game. Although it was the Canadians who drew first blood in the opening minute, Treharne struck back almost instantly with a try. Canada, not helped by a sin-binning to key player John Moonlight, watched as the floodgates opened.
Lloyd Evans, Davies (twice) and Roach all crossed the whitewash to give Wales the score line their performance throughout the day had earnt them – not to mention a spot in tomorrow’s quarter-final where they will face Pool D winners, Australia (KO 11:44 (local time).
