Despite some encouraging performances on day one on Saturday, Wales found themselves outside of the main Cup draw after losing narrowly to USA and Australia before finishing the day with a comfortable victory over Portugal.
Wales, led by the outstanding Luke Treharne, repelled the stubborn challenge of Zimbabwe in the Bowl quarter-finals before bowing out to Scotland in the semi-finals for the second week running. With the Scots going on to beat England in the Bowl final, Wales picked up five points from the tournament to remain in 12th place in the overall rankings.
The second leg of the series proved a step too far for all of the Dubai Sevens Cup semi-finalists as none of them made made it to the same stage a week later.
Wales, with only Adam Thomas and Sam Cross having reached double figures in tournament play, possessed one of the least experienced squads in Cape Town, but captain Treharne and vice-captain Cross set the example on day one with both figuring highly in the DHL Performance Tracker. When tackles, breaks, offloads and carries were combined, Treharne was heading the queue at one stage with Cross in 6th position.
Unfortunately on day two, Wales were unable to sustain their performances with basic errors and kicking away possession proving their downfall.
“We leave Cape Town happy that we made performance progressions through day one, with some very strong performances against USA and Australia, as well as a dominant and clinical result against Portugal,” said head coach Gareth Williams.
“It was disappointing that we could not replicate this on day two, and this transition from day one to two will be something we will look closely at for our next block of tournaments as well as reinforcing so much good that came from day one.
“In the team’s development, we have to learn and move on. We had the lowest number of combined tournaments as a squad in Dubai, and third lowest in Cape Town, therefore players are being faced with scenarios for the first time to deal with as a collective. We have to accelerate these lessons in order to increase our consistency and then we will challenge higher up and for longer in tournaments.”
The draw doesn’t get any easier for Wales in the third round of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series in Wellington, to be played on 30-31 January 2016.
Wales will tackle Cape Town runners-up Argentina alongside series leaders Fiji and the only non-core side in Wellington, Japan.
