Sevens
NZ win Glasgow Sevens
2012-05-06 20:09
Glasgow - New Zealand won the penultimate leg of the IRB's Sevens World Series on Sunday after beating England 29-14 in the final.
Click here for all the results from the Glasgow SevensThe victory increases the Kiwis' lead to 11 points over closest rivals Fiji, ahead of the last round at Twickenham on May 12-13.
Fiji
finished strongly to beat Australia to third place, but New Zealand
will go to London knowing that a place in the Plate final would suffice
to retain their World Series crown.
New Zealand have 150 points,
with Fiji on 139. England's run to the final has lifted them above South
Africa into third on 123 with the Blitzbokke (115), Glasgow Plate
winners Samoa (114) and Australia (99) completing the top six.
Captain
DJ Forbes, who marked his 50th IRB Sevens tournament with a brace of
tries in the final to take his career tally to 98, admitted that the
title was now New Zealand's to lose.
"We have been in situations
where we have come in and had to leave a few things to fate, but this
time it is only ours to lose really, isn't it?" said Forbes of New
Zealand's bid for a 10th title in 13 seasons.
"I think ultimately
everyone knows we are here to win the World Series, not for my 50th. You
could say maybe one hand on the World Series trophy at the moment, but
we have still got to do a job next week."
His coach, the peerless
Gordon Tietjens, who has overseen all of New Zealand's titles, praised
his side for coming through the final despite losing two players to
injury.
"It was a tough tournament and we found it really tough in
the final as well, particularly losing two key players so early in the
piece," he said.
"It was great for those other players to get in
and play really well against a good England team. I thought England
played very well today.
"They have been challenging conditions but
it is awesome to win here - it gives us a better chance to hopefully
retain or win our title back. For us it is important to get more points
going into the last tournament.
"It is not there yet though - we have still got a bit of work to do."
Tim
Mikkelson and Forbes scored either side of James Rodwell's try for
England to give New Zealand a 12-7 lead at half-time in the final.
That
lead grew when Ardie Savea touched down a minute into the second half
and, although Dan Norton cut the deficit, there was to be no denying New
Zealand with Lote Raikabula and Forbes - in his 50th IRB Sevens
tournament - crossing the try-line.
Earlier in the day, New
Zealand had beaten Argentina and Tokyo winners Australia to reach the
final, while England had battled past South Africa and then needed an
extra-time try by Mat Turner to beat Fiji.
The Fijians bounced back from that disappointment to beat Australia 31-17 and minimise the damage in the Series standings.