Day One at the HSBC Sevens World Series, TOKYO SEVENS 2015
TOKYO (Apr 04) – In action on day one of the Tokyo Sevens, round seven of the HSBC Sevens World Series, Tokyo Sevens 2015, defending champions Fiji made a clean sweep of Pool A to top their pool while England booked their place in the Cup Quarter Finals when they came in second. In cool to cold conditions in the nation’s capital that kept the attendance down, Wales finished third in the same pool with five points from one win and two losses with Hong Kong, as the only none-core team in Tokyo, finishing on the bottom from three straight losses.
In Pool B, Australia started dismally with a shock 12-10 loss to Portugal, compounded by a 17-14 loss to Scotland in their next game. However, the Aussies made amends with a well-deserved win over trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand in their last game, but it was not enough to see them through to the Cup stage of the tournament. New Zealand and Scotland qualified for the Cup leaving Australia and Portugal to battle it out for Bowl honours on Sunday.
In Pool C, season standings front-runner South Africa enjoyed wins over Canada, Kenya and the USA to head the pool. Elsewhere in the same pool, Canada came from nowhere with a 26-10 win over Kenya in the final pool game putting them through to the Cup Quarter Finals. Canada, Kenya and the USA all finished on five points with the best points for and against seeing the Canadians progress.
In Pool D, tournament hosts Japan were the surprise-packet of the day, holding Argentina to a draw in their first game before backing that up with a comprehensive 26-12 win over Samoa. France were too good for Japan in the final pool game of day one winning 24-19 with the win pushing France into top spot on the table with Japan taking second place. Consequently, Japan will find themselves in the unfamiliar situation of playing in the Cup Quarter Finals on day two of the tournament. Argentina and Samoa went helter skelter in their final pool game that eventually ground down to a 26-all draw.
With the pool stage now complete, the match-ups for the Cup Quarter Finals on day two are decided with Fiji playing Japan, South Africa doing battle with Scotland, France battling England while Canada face New Zealand. The remaining eight sides will play for the Bowl and Shield titles.
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