The two-time defending World Rugby Sevens Series champions, South Africa, will host this week’s second leg of the 2018-19 season and try for forget about last week’s sixth-place finish. The pools:
∙ Pool A: New Zealand, South Africa, Samoa, Zimbabwe
∙ Pool B: United States, Argentina, Spain, Japan
∙ Pool C: England, Fiji, France, Kenya
∙ Pool D: Australia, Scotland, Canada, Wales
The opener in Dubai (UAE) last week produced an unexpected result with perennial New Zealand beating the U.S., a surprise finalist, by 21-5. It was the best showing by an American team for a tournament outside North America since the 2016-17, when the Eagles managed a second-place showing in Singapore.
England defeated Australia for third and Fiji placed fifth, ahead of South Africa. The Springboks will try to change that, but hasn’t won at home in a while: third last season, second in 2016-17 and had their last victory in the 2015-16 season. In fact, it was New Zealand that won at Cape Town last season.
The leading scorer in the Dubai tournament was Australia’s John Porch (54), followed by New Zealand’s Andrew Knewstubb (52) and England’s Tom Mitchell (41). The U.S. was led by Perry Baker – of course – who had 30 points.
Argentina’s Marcos Moroni had the most tries in Dubai, with seven, followed by four others with six each (including Baker).
Look for scores and standings from Cape Town here.
