Eagles, Pumas chase Cup in Sydney

Mike Friday’s USA Eagles 7s and Santiago Gómez Cora’s Argentina have qualified for the Cup draw in Sydney in a virtual repeat of last week’s Day 1 results on the HSBC World Sevens Series. Canada meanwhile slumped to their second winless opening day of the season, dropping all three matches to finish at the bottom of Pool A and firmly planted in the Bowl draw.

Five teams in all came away undefeated on Day 1, thanks to a thrilling 17-all draw contested by hosts Australia and top seeds New Zealand. Ardie Savea’s converted try on full time deprived Australia of an upset win and maintained their number one standing in Pool A. Fiji, South Africa, and England were also in good form as they topped their respective pools.

Argentina impressed against France before narrowly avoiding defeat at the hands of Samoa. A last-gasp try to Franco Sábato was just enough to see them through to the Cup quarter finals. Fiji proved too much in their final game of the day, but were made to work by the feisty South Americans.

The Eagles started as well as they could have hoped as they pulverized a hapless Wales in their opener and overwhelmed a game but second best Japan. England might well have fallen had Perry Baker not carelessly stepped on the dead ball line before touching the ball down for a certain try, and the three-point final deficit cost them the top seed position in Pool D.

Canada bucked the trend of starting slowly with a commendable performance against New Zealand, arriving at the break 12-all before slipping away in the second half. The cracks began to show against Australia and then the wheels fell off in a dismal effort against Portugal, losing 26-17 to a side they had bested by 35 points in Wellington.

The Pumas will play South Africa in their Cup quarter final matchup, while the Eagles will have to find a way through New Zealand to make the semi. Canada must beat Wales in their first match of Day 2 to avoid being condemned to the Shield bracket.

DAY 1 RESULTS

POOL A
New Zealand 27 – 12 Canada
Australia 24 – 7 Portugal
New Zealand 40 – 5 Portugal
Australia 26 – 12 Canada
Canada 17 – 26 Portugal
New Zealand 17 – 17 Australia

POOL B
South Africa 33 – 7 Scotland
Kenya 24 – 10 Russia
South Africa 40 – 0 Russia
Kenya 17 – 14 Scotland
Scotland 40 – 5 Russia
South Africa 26 – 19 Kenya

POOL C
Fiji 31 – 0 Samoa
Argentina 17 – 7 France
Fiji 49 – 5 France
Argentina 14 – 12 Samoa
Samoa 29 – 14 France
Fiji 19 – 14 Argentina

POOL D
England 26 – 5 Japan
USA 42 – 0 Wales
England 21 – 5 Wales
USA 33 – 17 Japan
Japan 21 – 26 Wales
England 17 – 14 USA

DAY 2 FIXTURES

FEB 6 – 17:45 EST – BOWL QF – Portugal vs Japan
FEB 6 – 18:07 EST – BOWL QF – Samoa vs Russia
FEB 6 – 18:29 EST – BOWL QF – Wales vs Canada
FEB 6 – 18:51 EST – BOWL QF – Scotland vs France

FEB 6 – 19:35 EST – CUP QF – New Zealand vs USA
FEB 6 – 19:57 EST – CUP QF – Fiji vs Kenya
FEB 6 – 20:19 EST – CUP QF – England vs Australia
FEB 6 – 20:41 EST – CUP QF – South Africa vs Argentina