South Africa snatch Singapore title

Springboks deny the Pumas at the death

South Africa secure a 24-19 victory over Argentina in the Final of the Singapore Sevens on Sunday, which saw the Springboks draw level with England in second place on the IRB Sevens standings.

The final was befitting of a hugely exciting tournament as South Africa's Marc de Marigny scored a sudden death winner in the second period of extra time to win the Cup after the sides were level at 19-19 at full-time.

Both sides made a mockery of the water-logged conditions that spelt the end of more illustrious guests, producing a free-flowing match with no shortage of scoring chances and great skill.

De Marigny settled matters, in the 28th minute of play, by diving over the Argentine line after taking a quick tap penalty.

But it was Argentina who struck the first blow of the Final, as Santiago Gomez Cora forced his way into the corner despite a covering tackle by Danwell Demas.

The South Africans went ahead 7-5 as a clever kick ahead by Demas put pressure on the Argentine defence, allowing Mzwandile Stick to gather the ball and run in for a try.

Lucas Floors then showed his tremendous pace as he ran more than half the length of the field to make it 12-5 to South Africa at the break.

The Pumas hit back after one minute of the second half as Cora kicked the ball ahead before touching down in the corner. Andres Romagnoli converted from a tight angle to level the scores 12-12.

Argentina then took the lead a minute later as the impressive Cora completed a hat-trick of tries as he received a clever behind-the-back pass from his brother Pablo Marcelo and chipped ahead again to score.

South Africa replied with just two minutes left. Floors received the ball in space in his own half, found the gap, and ran three-quarters of the field before side-stepping a last ditch Argentine challenge to score under the posts. Stick converted to tie up the score at 19-19 and force the game into extra time.

With sudden death rules in place, Argentina could have ended the contest in the first minute of extra time as they carried the ball beyond the South Africa goalline only for the effort to be ruled out for a knock on.

The South Africans sensed they had got out of jail and pushed forward, only for a desperate challenge by Francisco Bosch to prevent the winning try.

The contest was finally decided when Demas burst up the field and was stopped shot - and illegally - by the Argentine defence, giving the quick-thinking De Marigny the chance to punctuate the duel.

South Africa join England on 86 points, six behind leaders New Zealand, with Argentina in fourth with 78 points.

South Africa - who won the first leg of the season in Dubai - swept aside a gallant French side in the semi-finals to book their date with the Pumas.

France - the surprise package of the tournament - sent favourites New Zealand packing in the quarter-finals to win their chance to face the Springboks.

But the Europeans failed to find their early finesse when faced with the well-organised Africans on a heavily saturated pitch, and failed to trouble the scoreboard.

The only scoring of the first period came midway through the half as the South Africans took a quick tap penalty from five yards out and De Marigny dived over the French line to make it 5-0 at the break.

The French were then unfortunate not to score as Franck Laquet mishandled right before the South African line. That was to prove costly as Demas burst through the French defence early in the second half to make it 10-0.

A sweeping South African counter-attack resulted in Floors touching down for South Africa's third try, and a despondent French side conceded again in the final minute as sloppy passing behind their own goalline allowed Jaco van Schalkwyk to dive on the loose ball for another try.

Argentina, for their part, continued their amazing run in the IRB Sevens Series by reaching their third straight Cup final with a narrow 7-0 win over Samoa in the semi-finals.

With heavy rain making playing conditions extremely difficult, Puma flyer Federico Serra splashed his way over the line after two minutes for the only points in the lowest scoring match of the tournament.

The waterlogged pitch made it extremely difficult for the Samoans to utilise their pace, and Argentina's well-drilled defence kept the Islanders under the cosh.

Samoa won the chance to contend for a berth in the Final by recording an impressive 15-5 win over the highly-regarded Fijians in the quarter-finals.

Plate:

A Plate final might be considered below the two undisputed heavyweights of the IRB Sevens circuit, but Fiji and New Zealand approached the game like they were fighting for the Cup.

Both sides knew that a win who generate some important Series points, and a pulsating encounter was only decided by the final move of the match when Fiji's Filimone Bolavucu powered over following a slick handling move in less than ideal conditions to secure a 19-15 win.

Earlier in the game, New Zealand legend Eric Rush proved that he had lost none of his pace as he out-sprinted the Fiji cover from 70 yards to score in the corner - but it was not quite enough against a determined Fiji.

Fiji reached the Plate final by ending England's miserable Singapore campaign with a 19-5 win in the semi-finals.

England - champions of the Hong Kong leg just one week ago - were still reeling from the 21-0 drubbing by Argentina in the Cup quarter-finals that sent them crashing out of Cup contention, and failed to find their rhythm in the opening stages and fell behind after two minutes as Filimone Bolavucu burst past the flimsy England defence to touch down.

Saimoni Roko then compounded England's horrors with a second try to make it 14-0 at the break.

Ben Gollings gave England some hope by scoring a try midway through the second half as the heavens opened at the National Stadium but Nasoni Roko put the game out of reach with Fiji's final try in the last minute.

New Zealand, for their part, bounced back from their tense 20-17 loss to France in the quarter-finals by producing an impressive 29-0 win over Australia in the Plate semis to book their date with Fiji.

In driving rain, New Zealand's Liam Messam put his side ahead after four minutes and Tanerau Latimer dived over in the corner to make it 12-0 at the break.

Conditions deteriorated further in the second half but New Zealand showed superb handling to set up Sosene Ansei for their third try of the game.

Skipper Rush ran through to score between the posts to make it 24-0 before Ansei picked up his second try of the game before the hooter put Australia out of their misery.

Bowl Final:

Scotland won silverware in the IRB Seven Series for the second week in a row as they followed up their victory in the Plate final at the Hong Kong Sevens to win the Bowl final here in Singapore.

After conceding an early try to by Canada's Mike Dansing, Scotland took complete control.

Rory Couper opened Scotland's account by collected a flip pass from 20 yards out midway through the first half to score between the posts, and Paul Boston then forced his way over to make it 12-7.

Couper capped a sweeping move across the width of the field to give the Scots a 12-point cushion at the break, and further tries by John Fitzpatrick, Andrew Turnball and Colin Gregor in the second half sealed an impressive win.

Shield Final:

Hong Kong completed one of the comebacks of the century to recover from a 21-point deficit to beat the United States 24-21 in the Shield Final.

The Americans looked to be in complete control as they surged ahead by 21 points in the first five minutes of the match.

Todd Clever took advantage of poor tackling to score after just 39 seconds and Tyson Meeks and Riaan Hamilton added further tries - all converted by John Buchholz, to put USA well on top.

Robert Naylor gave Hong Kong fresh hope as he side-stepped two American players to score their first try a minute before the break.

That try seemed to give Hong Kong plenty of impetus in the second half, and after sustained pressure on the USA goalline, Paul Dingley found a gap to make it 21-12.

A sweeping Hong Kong move that covered the width of the field saw Robert Naylor closing the gap to four points and Chan Fuk Ping powering his way into the corner to leave the crowd open-mouthed.

Quarter-final results:
Game 25: Bowl QF 1: Scotland 31 Hong Kong 0
Game 26: Bowl QF 2: Korea 14 Singapore 5
Game 27: Bowl QF 3: Canada 24 USA 7
Game 28: Bowl QF 4: Japan 29 Malaysia 0
Game 29: Cup QF 1: Argentina 21 England 0
Game 30: Cup QF 2: Fiji 5 Samoa 15
Game 31: Cup QF 3: South Africa 21 Australia 7
Game 32: Cup QF 4: France 20 New Zealand 17

Semi-final results:
Game 33: Shield SF 1: Hong Kong 19 Singapore 12
Game 34: Shield SF 2: USA 21 Malaysia 17
Game 35: Bowl SF 1: Scotland 31 Korea 7
Game 36: Bowl SF 2: Canada 22 Japan 17
Game 37: Plate SF 1: England 5 Fiji 19
Game 38: Plate SF 2: Australia 0 New Zealand 29
Game 39: Cup SF 1: Argentina 7 Samoa 0
Game 40: Cup SF 2: South Africa 24 France 0

Finals:
Game 41: Shield Final: Hong Kong 24 USA 21
Game 42: Bowl Final: Scotland 34 Canada 5
Game 43: Plate Final: Fiji 19 New Zealand 15
Game 44: Cup Final: Argentina 19 South Africa 24