Tietjens praises his 'young guns'

Reaction from the Wellington 7s

New Zealand coach Gordon Tietjens was full of praise for his team of "youngsters", who managed to top their pool in the Wellington Sevens - Round Three of the 2005/06 IRB Sevens series - despite playing to a 5-all draw against Samoa in the last game on Day One.

"I've think they've given all I've asked of them today," Tietjens said. "Especially in the first two games. After that the weather made it a bit of a lottery, but we came out of a tough game [Samoa missed a last-gasp penalty kick in front of the posts to win] with a draw so we're happy with that.

"They stood up today, a lot of them for the very first time, playing in front of this crowd at home. That's a lot of pressure, but they did do very well and I'm pretty happy on day one."

New Zealand's newly appointed captain Tafai Ioasa was also full of praise for the young guns in the side.

"We gave all Gordon asked of us, but I think just in our accuracy was a bit lacking, but the weather was difficult in that last game but we came through," he said.

"The young boys have done themselves proud, I'm very proud of them. Our fitness and our defence have both been far better than George and that will stand us in good stead tomorrow [Saturday]."

England captain Simon Amor felt it was defence that helped his team stay unbeaten on Day One.

"Our defence held out well and in the end we just had that little more desire," Amor said.

"The younger players who have come into the side have just been exceptional. Dave Strettle's been outstanding, Dave Seymour too and also Danny Care. They've all been fantastic, which is a very rare thing to see in a player's first sevens tournament. It enabled us to have a competitive 12-man squad.

"France next and they are always a very good side, who have also improved a hell of a lot over the last few months. I think if we can stay composed and retain the ball a bit better, iron out a few defensive deficiencies, I think we'll be confident."

South African coach Paul Treu was philosophical about his team's prospects, after they came unstuck (7-0) against Argentina in their last game.

"It's a pity that we lost that last game," Treu said. "We set ourselves a certain target to win all of our games, but luckily for us we still finished top of our pool and we get to start again in the Cup tomorrow [Saturday] morning.

"Stefan Basson really made a step up today, especially in the first two matches and the new players in the team also played very well, so I was very pleased with that. There are lots of positives to take into tomorrow.

"It doesn't really matter who you play on day two, it's always a tough game."

Thierry Janeczek, the French coach, said he was looking forward to the play-offs after his team's impressive performance on Day One - despite going down 21-7 to the Fijians in their final game.

"We improved as the day went on and the bad weather I think helped us a bit against Fiji, but in the end we conceded three tries in three minutes, which is massive. I don't know how we lost, but against Fiji you can't make that many mistakes.

"I'm not disappointed. My players showed a lot of heart today, we're in the quarter finals and there's been plenty to convince me that we can also look forward to Los Angeles."