News - 2009

Mouthwatering quarterfinal clashes lined up for Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens

December 4, 2009, Dubai - Reigning champions South Africa have been handed a tough task if they are to successfully defend the title they won at the Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens last year.

The Springbok Sevens side easily negotiated their way through the pool stages with victories over Wales, the Arabian Gulf and Australia but will face Fiji in the first of tomorrow's Cup quarterfinals.

Should they manage a victory over the Fijians they could set up a possible semi-final clash with eight-time IRB Sevens World Series champions New Zealand, if they get the better of Kenya in their quarterfinal.

"It's obviously not ideal to play a team like Fiji in the quarterfinals but if you want to win a tournament you're going to have to play them at some stage so it might as well be now," said South African captain Paul Delport.

His coach, Paul Treu pointed out: "Fiji have actually beaten us the last two times we played against them, at the World Games and in Edinburgh earlier this year.

"They are a tough team to play and have guys that make magic out of nothing but if we can play like we did against Australia, suffocate their space and not give them any room on defence, we've got a chance," added Treu who was particularly pleased that his side had improved throughout the day.

New Zealand coach Gordon Tietjens is also aware of the tough task ahead of his side. "We will have to step up our performance against Kenya in the quarterfinals. They are a team that have beaten us twice this year so it's going to be a tough contest. But I'm really pleased with the team's performance so far, particularly against Argentina and we're looking forward to the challenge tomorrow," he said.

The other quarterfinals will see another of the title favourites England taking on World Cup Sevens runners-up Argentina. England made light work of their pool with comfortable victories over USA, Russia and Kenya. They would have been especially pleased with their 27-10 win over the Kenyans - a team always capable of springing a few surprises.

In the fourth quarterfinal of the day tomorrow, Samoa who finished day 1 on top of pool B after a tough drawn match with Fiji, will take on Australia.

The Bowl quarterfinals will see Wales taking on Scotland, Portugal playing USA, Russia taking on France and the home side, Arabian Gulf, coming up against Zimbabwe.

Meanwhile, the 161 invitational teams competing in the 11 other tournaments taking place at the Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens will continue their matches on the surrounding pitches. They will play their finals tomorrow on pitch 1 in front of what is expected to be a close to 40,000-strong crowd.

Tickets to the action are still available at the gate at 7he Sevens venue on the Al Ain Road.