New Zealand retain George crown

IRB.com, December 8, 2007] - New Zealand maintained their perfect start to the 2007/08 IRB Sevens World Series with a 34-7 defeat of Fiji in the final of the South Africa Sevens at Outeniqua Park in George on Saturday.The defending champions raced into a 29-0 lead with tries from Lote Raikabula, Victor Vito (2), captain DJ Forbes and James Kamana before Neumi Nanuku scored Fiji's only try of the match.Fiji, just as in the Dubai final last weekend, had two players sin-binned in a match which New Zealand controlled from start to finish with Israel Dagg completing the scoring with his first touch after coming on as a replacement.The title is New Zealand's fourth consecutive in the IRB Sevens World Series after their victories in London, Edinburgh and Dubai and gives them a maximum 40 points from the opening two tournaments, eight more Fiji.South Africa, semi-finalists in both Dubai and George, are third with 24 points, four more than Argentina, who followed up their Plate victory in Dubai with a Cup semi-final in George. England and Kenya are next, both with 12 points.A hat-trick from Zar Lawrence had helped New Zealand beat Argentina 38-14 in the semi-final, the IRB Sevens World Series champions having beaten a committed USA 36-0 in the quarter-final.Fiji's manner of victory in their semi-final was nowhere near as comfortable, the islanders scoring tries from Akuila Nawerecagi and Tomasi Mawa in the last two minutes to silence the vociferous home support with a 21-12 victory over South Africa.The Springbok Sevens paid the price for not converting their attacking opportunities into points and experienced the same disappointment Scotland had endured at their hands in the quarter-finals when Vuyo Zangqa scored in the dying seconds to snatch a 21-17 win.Neumi Nanuku had earlier scored two of Fiji's tries in their 24-12 defeat of Kenya, the Africans losing in the last eight of the Cup for the second tournament in a row. Argentina meanwhile had to come from behind twice to beat Samoa 22-19 in the other quarter-final.PLATEKenya won a tightly contested Plate final, beating the USA 15-14 thanks to a brace from Dennis Mwanja either side of a try by Collins Injera. Chris Wyles and Nese Malifa scored for the USA, who have now scored more points in this tournament than in the whole of the 2006/07 Series.The USA had earlier caused the biggest shock of the tournament when they beat Samoa 24-19 in the semi-final, tries from Nese Malifa, Takudzwa Ngwenya, Todd Clever and James Gillenwater establishing a 24-7 lead before the islanders fought back. In the other semi-final Kenya heaped more heartache on Scotland with a last minute try by Peter Ocholla to snatch a 17-15 victory after tries from Andrew Dymock and Chris Kinloch had put Scotland into the lead.BOWLTries from Richie Pugh and James Lewis saw Wales recover from 19-7 down to beat England 21-19 in the Bowl final. Anthony Elliott (2) and Joe Simpson put England - who were missing the impressive Ben Foden through injury - ahead, but Wales stormed back.England had also raced out of the blocks in their semi-final, scoring three tries in the opening four minutes against Australia, but Elliott's sin-binning allowed their opponents back into the match before a great solo try by Foden sealed a 29-14 victory. Foden had earlier scored two tries, a tally matched by Simpson, as a clinical England overpowered Canada 35-5 in the quarter-finals, while Damon Murphy scored four tries as Australia beat Uganda 34-7.Wales had needed a sudden death try by Lewis to make the final, tries by Loic Mazieres and Eddy Labarthe bringing France back to 17-17 after the Welsh had led 17-5 at half-time. Wales had nearly led another lead slip in their quarter-final, having led 31-5 until three tries in quick succession prompted a Tunisian revival that ultimately came up just short, while France had earlier run out 24-19 winners over Zimbabwe.SHIELDAdam Kleeberger scored a hat-trick of tries as Canada finished the tournament strongly with a 31-14 defeat of Zimbabwe in the final. The Canadians raced out to a 26-0 lead at half-time with Zimbabwe's tries coming from Alex Ndangana and Tangai Nemadire. Canada had earlier scored five tries - two of them by Sean-Michael Stephen - to pick up their first win of the tournament, 31-5 over Uganda in the semi-final. Zimbabwe, meanwhile, had overcome Tunisia 21-17 in the all African-affair.The sides had met in the Shield final in Dubai when Zimbabwe came back at the end to win 22-19, but this time they raced into an early lead with two Wensley Mbanje tries and survived a late fight back from the Tunisians.