Wales emerged as Bowl winners in the Emirates Airline Edinburgh Sevens at Murrayfield, the final leg of the 2009/10 IRB World Series, after decisively defeating Kenya 26-10 with a dominant second half performance.
Coach Paul John said : “We’re happy to come away from Edinburgh with silverware. I think that today we definitely played better than in the pool stages and over the two days we’ve shown an improvement”.
Wales started the knock-out stages in Edinburgh by facing Canada in the second of the Bowl quarter finals knowing that the north Americans are a much improved outfit this season. And they showed this by running the world champions close in an exciting morning tie at Murrayfield.
The Welsh seven seemed to have matters in hand when they led 14-0 with two tries from the powerful Rhys Shellard, both converted by Rhys Jones. But just before the break Canada forced their way back into the game with a try by Thyssen de Goede quickly followed by a second half effort from paceman Sean Duke both converted by Phil Mack to level the scores
Then in an exciting finish Wales booked their place in the Bowl semi finals and a tie against France with a last second score from Jevon Groves converted by Jones to win 21-14.
Then in the semi final France appeared to have taken an early lead when Manoel Dall Igna touched down under the posts but the referee disallowed the ‘try’ because of an off-the-ball incident that resulted in a two yellow cards.
With both sides reduced to six men the game opened, allowing Craig Hill to take a return pass from Lloyd Williams to open the scoring. But a late try in the first half by Mathieu Acebes levelled the score at the break.
Wales then regained the lead with a try by Lee Rees made by Hill’s charging run and when Rees ran 50 metres for his second try and Rhys Jones added his second conversion Wales had a 19-7 advantage, increased to 24-7 with a try in the corner by Rhys Webb. Camille Canivet pulled back a score for France but it was too late to prevent Wales winning 26-12.
What had been a bad-tempered game, however, ended in a fracas that resulted in red cards for Jeavon Groves and Remi Vaquin. While of no consequence for France it meant that Wales, having already lost Alex Cuthbert and Lee Beach to injury had to use a pool replacement player for the Bowl final.
Humphrey Kayange gave Kenya an early lead but Wales responded with a try by Lloyd Williams converted by Rhys Jones only for Kayange to score again for a 10-7 interval lead. Wales, however, took over in the second half as first Craig Hill and then Rhys Webb ran in converted tries, before Rhys Jones collected a cross kick to make sure of victory in the Bowl final.
Overall the 2009/10 honours went to Samoa. The Pacific Islanders went into the Edinburgh Sevens seven points clear of their sole rival, New Zealand. The Samoans needed to reach the final to make sure of the title. They achieved their goal but only after a titanic struggle with England, the game being settled in the second period of extra time by a penalty drop goal.
But in the final Samoa showed their champions quality by sweeping past London winners Australia to run up a 41-14 scoreline.
Emirates Airline Edinburgh Sevens Day 2 Results
Cup Quarter-Finals: Samoa 19 South Africa 0, Scotland 7 England 21, Australia 15 Fiji 7, New Zealand 26 Argentina 0
Cup Semi-Finals: Samoa 15 England 12 (after extra time), Australia 24 New Zealand 19
Cup Final: Samoa 41 Australia 14
Plate Semi-Finals: South Africa 14 Scotland 19, Fiji 17 Argentina 19
Plate Final: Scotland 19 Argentina 0
Bowl Quarter-Finals: France 19 Italy 5, Wales 21 Canada 14, Portugal 21 USA 26, Russia 0 Kenya 12
Bowl Semi-Finals: France 12 Wales 26, USA 12 Kenya 17
Bowl Final: Wales 26 Kenya 10
Shield Semi-Finals: Italy 0 Canada 35, Portugal 0 Russia 17
Shield Final: Canada 7 Russia 26
Final standings 1 Samoa 164; 2 New Zealand 149; 3 Australia 122; 4 Fiji 108; 5 England 96; 6 South Africa 80
Wales Sevens Squad: Jevon Groves (captain, Cross Keys), Rhys Shellard (Cardiff), Ifan Evans (Llandovery), Craig Hill (Newport), Lee Beach (London Welsh), Lee Rees (Scarlets Academy), Alex Walker (Dragons), Rhys Webb (Ospreys), Rhys Jones (Cornish Pirates), Gareth Davies (Cardiff), Lloyd Williams (Blues), Alex Cuthbert (UWIC)
