Day One
Australia have played their first pool match of the 2014 Hong Kong 7s against Spain, and won the game 28-14.
From the outset it was clear that Australia were willing to risk handling errors on a humid and foggy Hong Kong night in the pursuit of entertaining rugby. Australia attacked the middle of the park in a frenetic opening period, where Tom Lucas and Cameron Clark tried a combination of switches and dummy switches to scramble the Spanish defence. In combination with a healthy offloading game, Australia look well-organised and incisive, while Spain was missing tackles faster than they could say hola.
Australia began distributing the ball wide, looking to outpace the Spanish through speedster Greg Jeloudev, who made racing to sideline around the defence look easy by picking up 20 to 30 metres each attempt.
The inability of the Spanish to keep the ball in hand for sustained periods of time hampered their ability to impact the game, giving away 12 turnovers in a 14 minute match. Just to make this point stick even further – imagine a game of 15 a side rugby where 70+ turnovers were committed in an 80 minute period. With this level of ball security, victory went racing out the window
The first points for the match came when Australia’s Tom Lucas (younger brother of Super Rugby players Ben and Matt) dummied his way through the line 30 metres out, and raced ahead to score. The try was as much a product of Jeloudev’s potential impact outside Lucas than Lucas’ respectable speed and solid decision making.
As is the custom in 7s rugby, the try-scorers kick off to the defending team, and Spain elected to kick the ball out upon receiving it, an uncommon display for Sevens Rugby. This possession allowed Australia to methodically work their way back inside the Spanish 22, and a fantastic run by Jesse Parahi who spun and fended his way past 3 defenders before offloading to Nick Malouf set up Australia’s second try, and the 15th of Nick Malouf’s career.
Spain’s Angel ‘Endele, Endele’ Lopez was good for his team, frequently making Australian defenders miss with a electric stepping display, and when Lopez linked with youngster Brice Labardie the Spanish looked very good in attack.
It took only 34 seconds in the second half for Spain to score, as Lopez attempted to bust through a twin tackle from Australia ( very unsuccessfully), but was able to pop the ball off the ground to a racing Labardie. 2011 Australian Schoolboy Cameron Clark was hot on his heels for the entire chase, but couldn’t quite catch up. 14-7.
The next few minutes presented several opportunities for Spain to equalise the score, but indecision cost them dearly as holes in the Australian defensive line closed quickly. A knock on by Spain in the face of the Australian defence saw Jesse Parahi, the only player on the field to play advantage, scoop up the ball and charge through a hole in the line. Spain woke up to the threat quickly and moved to wrap up Parahi, but a brilliant around-the-corner offload saw Cameron Clark race off to the corner for an easy try. Clark converted his own kick to take the score to 21-7 in Australia’s favour with a minute and a half to play.
Australian substitutes Afa Pakalani and Peter Schuster were excellent in defence for the final period, pressuring Spain out of the contest bar a consolation try to Spainish replacement halfback Nill Baro, off the back of a fantastic run down the right sideline. The Hong Kong 7s tradition of booing the Australian team continued loud and clear with a strong first showing at the Tournament.
Tomorrow they take on France at 3:02 pm AEST and South Africa at 8:54 pm AEST to determine the team’s seeding heading in to Sunday’s finals. Keep your eye on Green and Gold Rugby for all your Australian Hong Kong 7s coverage.
Pool News
South Africa have beaten France 31-7. France not looking threatening thus far in the Tournament. South Africa and Australia’s match will decide who wins Pool B.
