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RWC Sevens for Portugal, Wales and Georgia

Sunday 13th July 2008

Seventh Heaven: Portugal, Georgia and Wales will compete at the 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens

Portugal, Wales and Georgia have sealed their places at Rugby World Cup Sevens 2009 after going through the opening day of the European qualifier in Hannover, Germany, on Saturday with unbeaten records.

Their four wins from four pool matches on day one at the AWD Arena before an enthusiastic crowd in excess of 35,000 mean that Portugal, Wales and Georgia are guaranteed to finish in the top two of their pools and so reach the Cup semi-finals.

Portugal, the top seeds, occupy top spot in Pool A with 12 points, albeit only on points difference from Georgia with the sides to meet on Sunday to determine who finishes top and meets the Pool B runner-up in the Cup semi-finals.

Second seeds Wales, who like Portugal won two of FIRA European Sevens events which determined the 12 participants in Hannover, lead the way in Pool B with 12 points, two more than Ireland with Italy and Ukraine on eight points.

Wales end the pool stages by facing Belgium on Sunday, having beaten Poland 38-0, Ireland 26-14, Ukraine 21-17 and Italy 33-12. However Gareth Baber's side, core members of the IRB Sevens World Series, didn't have it all their own way.

In fact Wales trailed at half-time against Ireland in their second match and then needed Gareth Chapman's try to deny Ukraine a famous victory after they had fought back from 14-0 to lead 17-14 with tries from Jaba Malaguradze, Ruslan Tserkovniy and Giorgi Todradze.

Portugal and Georgia also suffered their own scares, Tomaz Morais's men only edging hosts Germany 14-12 in their third match, the difference between the sides being a conversion which hit posts in the first half.

The other wins were more comfortable for Portugal with Romania beaten 38-0 with twins Diogo and David Mateus among the try scorers, then Spain 28-5 and finally Russia by an impressive 45-5 scoreline.

Georgia needed a last minute breakaway try from Merab Kvirikashvili to beat Russia 5-0 in the tournament opener, with hosts Germany and Romania unable to score against the 12th seeds in losing 26-0 and 12-0 respectively.

Juan Cano finally did cross the line against Georgia as Spain trailed only 7-5 at half-time, but a double from Simon Masuradze helped seal a 28-5 victory and a third successive Rugby World Cup Sevens appearance for his country.

Spain, Russia and Germany all managed one win in Pool A with Romania's best result a 19-19 draw with Russia to leave only two points separating the four sides with one match remaining.

A last minute try by Pablo Feijoo helped Spain recover from 17-0 down to beat Germany 26-22, but they later lost to Russia 29-7. Germany, so close against Spain and Portugal, finally gave the home crowd the victory they craved when Markus Walger's last minute try sealed a 17-12 win over Romania.

There were a few other decisive late tries in Pool B with Marko Stanojevic's giving Italy a 17-10 victory over Belgium in their opening match, before Darren Cave scored two tries as Ireland came from behind to beat the Italians 17-12 and Ukraine stormed back from 14-0 down to beat Poland 21-14.

Italy and Ukraine both recorded two wins on Saturday, one more than Poland managed after they edged Belgium 21-19 despite Kevin Williams' late try resulting in a tense finale.

The pool stages conclude on Sunday with Spain v Romania, Ireland v Poland, Russia v Germany, Italy v Ukraine, Portugal v Georgia and Wales v Belgium. These are followed by the Bowl, Plate and Cup semi-finals and subsequent play-offs to determine the final placing from one to 12.

With Portugal, Georgia and Wales already claiming three of the five qualifying berths for Rugby World Cup Sevens 2009 available in Hannover, the others will be claimed by the other Cup semi-finalist and the winner of the Plate final.

With thanks to the IRB