London Sevens – Wrap
The 2017 London Sevens was the tenth and final round of the 2016-17 HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series.
At the completion of the series, South Africa took the gold medal with 192 points, England the silver medal with 164 points and Fiji the bronze medal with 150 points.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the standings, Japan were the lowest placed core team on 20 points behind Russia on 29 points and are relegated from core status for next season.
Japan were one of the fifteen core teams in the main draw of the series and they were in Pool C along with New Zealand, Fiji and Canada. Spain was the sixteenth and final team at the tournament.
In their opening Pool C game on Saturday, 20 May 2017, the Japanese faced New Zealand. The All Black Sevens are off the pace this season but proved too strong, beating Japan 33-7. Later in the day, Japan lost 61-5 to Fiji and 28-14 to Canada.
Japan finished fourth in Pool C in London and played in the Challenge Trophy for the bottom two teams in each pool on Sunday, 21 May 2017. In the quarterfinals, Japan faced France at 10:36 with the French winning 22-6. The loss to France put Japan into the semi-finals for the thirteenth place play-offs where they faced Samoa. Japan fought hard; however, Samoa came out on top to the tune of 33-7 leaving Japan tied for fifteenth place with Spain.
In the Cup final, Scotland collected the Gold medal with their 12-7 win over neighbours England while Canada took Bronze with a 22-19 win over the USA in the third-place play-off.
After the event, Japan Sevens head coach Damian Karauna commented, “We finished with five loses from our five starts here in London and this was very disappointing. Japan loses core status for next season and we will not be able to test ourselves against the best on a regular basis. We will now have to go away and rebuild our team. Our focus will be on the Asia Sevens Series 2017 and the Rugby World Cup Sevens in 2018.”
Captain Dai Ozawa said, “We could not produce the results we needed in London and this is very disappointing for us. We could not support the ball carrier enough in attack and this led to a lot of turn over ball. In defence, we failed to put the man to the ground in one-on-one tackles and this hurt us in the end. We worked really hard last year to achieve core status for this season and to lose it in one year is really disappointing for all concerned. We now have to take this frustration with us to the Asia Sevens Series 2017 to ensure we qualify for the Rugby World Cup Sevens in 2018. We also have to work doubly hard to regain core status on the World Series.”
Pools
| Pool A | Pool B | Pool C | Pool D |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Africa | Scotland | New Zealand | England |
| USA | France | Fiji | Samoa |
| Wales | Argentina | Canada | Australia |
| Kenya | Russia | Japan | Spain |
Pool C Games for Japan
Saturday, 20 May 2017
09:52 New Zealand 33 d Japan 7
12:36 Fiji 61 d Japan 5
15:42 Canada 28 d Japan 14
Knockout Stage Games for Japan
Sunday, 21 May 2017
Challenge Trophy Quarterfinals: 10:36 France 22 d Japan 6
13th Place Semi-finals: 12:58 Samoa 33 d Japan 7
Japan Sevens Squad for London
| Name | Club | DOB | Age | Hgt/Wgt | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Naoki MOTOMURA | Honda Heat | 11/04/1992 | 25 | 184/88 |
| 2 | Dallas TATANA | Kamaishi Seawaves | 27/08/1991 | 25 | 186/106 |
| 3 | Makoto KATO | Kyuden Voltex | 01/08/1990 | 27 | 176/85 |
| 4 | Jonmoon HAN | Ryutsu Keizai University | 07/07/1996 | 20 | 183/90 |
| 5 | Patrick STEHLIN | IBM Big Blue | 15/12/1992 | 24 | 178/95 |
| 6 | Dai OZAWA (c) | Toyota Verblitz | 08/05/1989 | 27 | 183/89 |
| 7 | Katsuyuki SAKAI | Toyota Industries Shuttles | 07/09/1988 | 28 | 172/88 |
| 8 | Ryota KANO | Meiji Yasuda Hollies | 10/05/1992 | 25 | 172/72 |
| 9 | Taisei HAYASHI | Canon Eagles | 27/06/1992 | 24 | 176/85 |
| 10 | Kosuke HASHINO | Canon Eagles | 20/11/1987 | 29 | 176/83 |
| 11 | Masahiro NAKANO | Kyushu Kyoritsu University | 25/01/1996 | 21 | 168/75 |
| 12 | Siosifa LISARA | Hanazono University | 02/02/1994 | 23 | 180/85 |
Head Coach: Damian Karauna, JRFU
Skill Coach: Stephen Miln, JRFU