News - 2011

Tournament And Series Champions To Go Head To Head In Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens Cup Quarterfinals

DUBAI, UAE - Fiji, South Africa, England and Wales emerged as the top international men's teams at the Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens today.

Over 43,000 fans flocked to 7he Sevens on the 40th anniversary of UAE National Day to witness the action.

Current HSBC Sevens World Series leaders Fiji cruised through the day with comfortable victories over Argentina (40-7), the UAE (43-0) and Samoa (31-14) on their way to topping Pool A.

South Africa, meanwhile, defeated Portugal (17-5) and the USA (36-7) before overcoming the toughest obstacle of the pool stages with a convincing 21-5 victory over New Zealand to top Pool B.

Defending Dubai champions England also looked to be in fine form with a 43-0 victory over Zimbabwe, then a 19-12 win over Kenya and a 29-12 win over France to finish top of Pool C while Wales overcame Scotland (14-7), Canada (15-12) and Australia (33-14) to claim their spot at the top of Pool D.

"Today was about taking each game as it came to us. We respected the teams in front of us but we knew it was about us and wanted to put things right and so we played the way we wanted to play," said England captain Greg Barden afterwards.

As a result of today's matches, Fiji will take on Australia in the first of the Cup quarterfinals at 11.08am tomorrow, while the big match will be England v New Zealand at 11.32am while Wales take on Argentina at 11.54am before South Africa face France at 12.16.

Speaking about the prospect of taking on the reigning Series champions in the quarterfinals, England coach Ben Ryan said: "New Zealand is an excellent side. They always play very well against us and we'll have to be at our best. We're getting better and better, although at times we're still a bit shaky. But we sorted ourselves out and kept the ball. It's not quite clicking but we are getting there."

Talking about his side's quarter-final match-up with France, South African captain, Kyle Brown said: "We know France are no pushovers. They're tough and physical and we know it's going to be a tough game.

"Every team in this circuit is putting it up there. We always train to be number one in the world. So whether we are number one or New Zealand, Fiji, or Samoa are, we go out there and expect no surprises."

It was Canada and England that emerged as the top international women's teams of the day. The Canadians beat Brazil 31-0, then Spain 19-4 before defeating the reigning Rugby World Cup Sevens champions Australia 14-7 to top Pool A.

England defeated China 26-15, then a close encounter saw them edging out South Africa 22-19 before they soundly beat the USA 31-0 to finish top of Pool B.

The women's Cup semi-finals will see Canada taking on the USA at 2.52pm while England will play Australia at 3.14pm.

Meanwhile, the International Rugby Board has announced figures showing that the Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens has smashed the record for the number of live hours broadcast from a single round of the HSBC Sevens World Series.

The Dubai round of the 2011/12 Series will accumulate 222 hours of live television, up from 182 hours in 2010. The figure surpasses the previous best, 191 hours of live broadcast from the Hong Kong Sevens 2011. In all, 22 broadcasters are showing live pictures from Dubai, up from 14 last year, which has also increased the number of countries receiving live pictures, from 90 to 120.

For those in Dubai, tickets to catch all the action and top-class entertainment live tomorrow are still on sale at the gate.

For more information on the tournament, log on to: www.dubairugby7s.com