Day Two in Wellington

Every picture tells a story! aka Not Much Joy in Mudville.

The day started for Canada with a Possession Clinic from Portugal of all teams, a club who had gone 0 – 3 on day #1. Canada played probably its most lack-lustre game in recent Seven’s memory when they dropped a 0 – 26 decision to Portugal. Veteran Esteve opened the scoring early and after a four-minute possession period, Kiwi-born, Murray scored #2 for his sixth tourney tally. Canada only “handled” twice in seven minutes! Esteve added his brace early after the half for his all-time Portugal leading total of 85 tries. Canada knocked on thrice and only had one “possession” in four minutes. Portugal, cleverly wasted time and ended up with another score resulting from missed tackles. The lack of Canadian energy, power and organisation was most disappointing.

Canada then played in the Shield Semi Vs Japan. Scoring for the boys came very early with a confident try by Fuli. White added #2 at three minutes and from k.o., he retrieved the ball and fed Fuli for his brace and 21 – 0 lead however, a tackle was missed for Japan to score on the buzzer, 21 – 7. Somehow, for me, this epitomized what we saw from our boys in this tourney – a failure to lower the boom! Another missed tackle thirty seconds in brought the score to 21 – 14. Canada then returned to its focus, only for a pass to be inexplicably dropped and with 2.5 minutes left, Japan went 70 meters to tie the score. With a minute and change, Hammond took an alert tap, fed White (MoM in this one) and on to Underwood to squeak out a 28 – 21 win and advance to the Shield Final. From this one, the question was; where’s Duke?

Shield Final Vs Samoa. The Samoans are an old rival for the Canucks and have a leg up on overall head-to-head results however, we read they are under severe political pressure from home to “pull up their socks”. Their effort today did not help matters! First blood was drawn by Samoa at the two minute mark when three tackles were broken and this viewer wondered if it was to be ‘more of the same’. It was not to be as Canada played their best rugby of the tourney and played with the organization that we have grown used to, throttling the ‘Blues’ out of the game. Hammond responded to the score with a fifty meter break, only to be penalised but Jones scored the equaliser from Underwood and converted for a 7 – 5 half-time lead. Mooner was next to score with a very good effort from lead-up work by Hammond and Fuli but the captain needed all he could muster to get over the chalk, 14 – 5. From the kickoff it was Hammond going blindside, to finish another good Moonlight thrust, 21 – 5. Trainor then created a turnover and Samoa was “carded” for interference and Cejvanovic was the recipient of some good passes to cross and put the boys up 26 - 5 with only 1.5 left on the clock. Samoa brought on a “R.L.” sub who finished with a strong burst to end it at 26 – 12. Having being critical with earlier reports, credit must be given to an effort that surely came from the bottom of the boots, showing true Canadian grit. Well done, boys and “it’s off to Vegas!”

In summary, White had one of his best outings, Jones and Trainor provided sporadic quality, Hammond and Fuli worked hard, Cejvanovic had some good minutes and Underwood had a good debut. Didn’t see a Duke injury but didn’t see him on the pitch, so hope not so. I thought Moonlight looked weary on occasion having to ‘carry the group’ but he still busted his butt. So, despite some un-Canadian-like play, the finish was good but it only earned three comp points to leave the boys in 14^th place with both Portugal and Kenya leap-frogging. The event was a gala with; “the sevens being good but a stellar party is being had”, great ambience but disappointing crowd in this pundit’s opinion.

Whiteslither and Moonlight on the rampage.

Other Games of Note….

Carlin Isles led the U.S. to a 10 – 0 lead over Scotland at the half in a Cup quarter-final. Two minutes into the second half, the score was 15 – 0 and it should have been all over but it went terribly wrong (the bubble deflated), for The Eagles with loss of discipline seeing a red card and a miraculous – “miracle on turf”, Scottish comeback. With a mere two minutes remaining, the Scots scored 19 points and kept the U.S out of a first-ever “final four”. The Eagles went on to drop a 10 – 12 decision to Fiji, arguably being “stiffed” by a questionable forward pass call, never-the-less, they earned a quality ten points to stay firmly in eighth place.

Scotland went on to play England. It loomed as huge upset #2 as the Scots led 19 – 17 with mere “ticks” remaining and their first-ever “final four” appearance as well, almost guaranteed, England performed a “Lazarus” to pull it out, 24 – 19. A Scottish heart-breaker! England went on to test the Kiwis in the Final but finish as #2.

Argentina showed strength in an encompassing 47 – 12 win over Portugal, earlier victors over Canada.

Then there was, for mine, the try of the tourney which went to RSA’s, Kwaggie Smith who, with his team down one man and no time left at the half, this play spanned the full 100 meters to tie the score. The second half of this one saw the freakiest of occurrences – a missed penalty goal, further, Cecil Afrika shanked miserably, the easiest of clearances and on debut, Ioane, the seventeen year old Kiwi scored the winning try.

Then there was “Woeful Wales”. After knowing their National XV had been nutted 21 – 16 by England in the Six Nations opener at Millennium in front of some 70,000, the Sevens boyos looked abysmal, almost “giving up” in losing to France 0- 43! Speaking of the Six Nations, the Crimson Tide Juniors were recipients of a good “gate”, donations from a “full house” at the Strath. Kudos to John Wrafter and Nick Fairhurst on yet another campaign and thanks to D.B. and mine host, Grant Olsen for their roles with this annual fundraiser.

(Some license is taken with personal opinions in this blog. It is not representative of a CWRFC pov.)