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Agence France-PresseFebruary 10, 2013 03:47
RugbyU: Defending champs Samoa into US Sevens semis
Samoa took another step toward retaining their USA Rugby Sevens crown Saturday, defeating Scotland 12-5 to book a Cup semi-final showdown with South Africa.
South Africa delivered another impressive performance in the quarter-finals, defeating Wales 26-0.
Pool winners New Zealand and Fiji advanced to the other semi-final in the fifth round of the IRB Sevens World Series.
New Zealand moved on with a 17-0 victory over Canada, while Fiji edged the United States 21-19.
The United States had booked their quarter-final berth in dramatic style earlier on Saturday, beating Spain 22-7 in the final pool match.
After enduring a tough opening day on Friday, the hosts needed to win by 14 or more points and rallied from 7-0 down with the help of two tries from Carlin Isles.
Nick Edwards got the decisive conversion with the final kick of the match, leaving Spain as the only Sevens core country yet to reach the Cup quarter-finals this season.
Fiji coach Timoci Wainiqolo said his side knew the hosts would be fired up in the quarter-finals after their victory over Spain.
"It was a hard game, USA were playing well, they are coming up," he said.
As the three-day format saw the last round of pool matches played Saturday, defending Samoa completed a perfect pool record, as did New Zealand and South Africa.
Scotland advanced to the quarters with a 14-0 win over England -- the victors last weekend in Wellington who didn't manage a pool win here.
"It was a unique situation with all 16 teams still able to qualify (on Saturday), but we knew we could," Scotland coach Stephen Gemmell said of his side's mindset going into their final pool match.
"It was nice to do it against England, but it would have been the same against anybody."
New Zealand top the Sevens World Series standings on 77 points, ahead of Kenya on 56 and Samoa on 54. Fiji, France and South Africa all have 51 points.
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http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/130210/rugbyu-defending-champs-samoa-us-sevens-semis
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