US upsets New Zealand to make Dubai 7s rugby quarterfinals

Fiji will face New Zealand in the Cup semifinals while United States will take on England.

New Zealand had attempted to run down the clock, but gave up a penalty as the final siren sounded.

“It’s a monumental step for us”, he said. “Losing our captain was a big loss but everyone stepped up and hopefully we made everyone in Australia very proud”. Charlotte Caslick closed the gap to two points with some magic when she danced through the New Zealand defence before Ellia Green was the beneficiary of an Emilee Cherry pass to complete the stunning turnaround. We just fought really, really hard and credit to us, we put in the work in San Diego and we did it for the boys back home, our friends and family and our country.

Perry Baker, a converted American football player with searing pace, went over for two tries in the 14-12 win, which clinched a quarter-final place against South Africa.

The surprise packet of the tournament was the performance of the Russians who showed signs that they could become major contenders in the Sevens’ version of the sport when they get more experience.

Australia beat France comfortably 26-0 in their semi showing excellent speed off the mark and backing up, whereas their opponents had probably invested too much effort in their QF win against Fiji.

Defending champions South Africa notched 104 points in victories over Samoa, Scotland and Russian Federation in Pool B but Fiji topped the scoring charts with 112 points in wins against Argentina, Japan and Canada.

England claimed third spot in Dubai after beating France 10-5 in sudden death extra-time.

The Canadian men were thumped 63-14 by defending Series champion Fiji to open the rugby sevens tournament, before falling 19-14 to Argentina and 21-7 to Japan.

Fiji beat Australia 19-12 in the quarterfinals, and New Zealand 19-5 in the semifinals.

Friday at 7he Sevens Stadium was also designated Keep Rugby Clean Day and the players and management from the 16 men’s and 12 women’s teams on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series all wore branded t-shirts to support World Rugby’s anti-doping awareness campaign.