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Sunday Nov 17, 2024
Monday, 31 March 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
New Zealand, who won their 11th championship title in Hong Kong were the only unbeaten team in the competition after 11 games. They led the halftime 12-7 and scored from four tries and three conversions while allowing England their only opportunity to score from a converted try just before halftime.
Last year’s champions Fiji secured the third place playoff, beating Australia by 21-12 after failing to reach the final with their loss against England in the Cup semi-final. England beat Fiji by 17-7 to meet New Zealand in the Cup final. New Zealand advanced to the Cup final after brushing off Australia by 19-7 in the second semi-final.
South Africa overcame Wales by 19-14 to secure the Plate championship while Scotland rampaged to beat France 31-5 in the Bowl final. In a close battle Kenya beat Portugal 17-10 to win the Shield championship. With an easy 26-5 win over Italy in the final of the Qualifier Tournament, Japan will be eligible to compete in the Sevens World Series in the 2014/15 season.
Sri Lanka’s performance got better and better as the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens culminated after three days of eventful rugby at the Kowloon Rugby Stadium in Hong Kong. For the first time in Sevens history the Tuskers led Samoa by 14-12 before succumbing to a 33-14 defeat in the Bowl quarterfinals and missed out a golden opportunity to overcome Portugal easily before falling short by five points, 24-19 in the 
Shield semi-finals. By the time Sri Lanka reached the Shield semi-final the Tuskers transformed themselves to become a unit loved by the crowd after a disastrous first and second day. They lost all their group games against Kenya, last year’s champions Fiji, and Wales by 41-0, 46-0 and 47-12 respectively but Saturday evening onwards Sri Lanka’s performances were above par than what it was.
In the Shield semi-final Sri Lanka came close to beat Portugal, ranked 14 in the Sevens World Series but time ran out as well as luck against their favour. Portugal scored from four tries and three of them came from their star player Duarte Moriera. Moriera touched down twice in the third and fifth minutes before skipper Fazil Marija put Sri Lanka back in the picture with a converted try as Portugal led 12-7 at halftime. Sri Lanka’s break came through Srinath Sooriyabandara who side-stepped three of the Portugal defenders before making a punt as last resort after covering almost two-third of the field from their own 22 to give his skipper do the honours of scoring. Shortly after the short whistle Portugal extended their lead to 17-7 after a try from David Mateus but Dinusha Chathuranga broke away to run the same distance as his team-mate to score Sri Lanka’s second try of the game and with Sooriyabandara’s conversion Portugal’s lead was brought down to 17-14. But terrible ball handling by the Tuskers gave away a simple try to Portugal as they extended the lead further by ten points 24-14. The try was Moriera’s third of the game.
Before time ran out Mithun Hapugoda turned the tables on Portugal to deceive the entire Portugal defence and score a spectacular try after covering an entire field. The curtains came down on the Tuskers a minute late as the game ended 24-19 in favour of the Portuguese.
Three hours earlier to this game Sri Lanka added spice to their dull presentation of two days in the Bowl quarterfinal game against Samoa, ranked sixth Sevens World Series. Danushka Ranjan made the unexpected breakthrough when he faked a kick to run past the Samoans who pursued him nearly 70 metres. But Ranjan held on to his nerves to touch down far right and with Sooriyabandara’s conversion Sri Lanka took an early second minute lead over Samoa. But a minute later Kelly Meafua breached the Lankan defence to score and the scored were level at 7-all. The Tuskers didn’t waste even a minute to retaliate through Sooriyabandara, who cleared over 60 metres, wagging through the Samoans to score under the post. The try scorer made the conversion to put Sri Lanka in front 14-7 but Meafua reacted fast with an unconverted try as the Samoans were kept trailing by the Tuskers 12-14. However Samoa regained their lost rhythm to score thrice in the second half with Meafua scoring his hat-trick and a try each from Etiuefa Fiavaai and Viiga Reupena as Samoa claimed the win by 33-14 with five tries and four conversions. The Sri Lanka Sevens team will return home today evening.
Final day results:
Cup: New Zealand beat England 26-7 in the final
Semi-finals: England beat Fiji 17-7, New Zealand beat Australia 19-7.
Quarterfinals: Fiji beat USA 17-5, England beat South Africa 14-7, New Zealand beat Wales 28-5, Australia beat Canada 14-12.
Plate: South Africa beat Wales 19-14 in the final
Semi-finals: South Africa beat USA 24-19, Wales beat Canada 31-14.
Bowl: Scotland beat France 31-5 in the final
Semi-finals: Scotland beat Argentina 24-12, France beat Samoa 38-5.
Quarterfinals: Scotland beat Kenya 26-12, Argentina beat Spain 7-5, Samoa beat Sri Lanka 33-14, France beat Portugal 19-14.
Shield: Kenya beat Portugal 17-10 in the final
Semi-finals: Kenya beat Spain 12-7, Portugal beat Sri Lanka 24-19.
SWS Qualifiers: Japan beat Italy 26-5 in the final
Semi-finals: Japan beat Russia 19-14, Italy beat Hong Kong 12-0.
Quarterfinals: Japan beat Tunisia 38-7, Russia beat Uruguay 21-14, Italy beat Zimbabwe 17-12, Hong Kong beat Chile 10-7.
