As a result of finishing third in their pool behind winners Samoa Sevens and second placed Kenya Sevens, Wales Sevens will face Tunisia Sevens in the quarter finals of the Bowl, with a semi-final against Australia Sevens the likely result for the victors.
Frustratingly Wales Sevens were pipped by Kenya Sevens in their second tie, losing out by a conversion, and then in their final match yesterday the men in red were beaten 19-14 by tournament third seeds, Samoa Sevens, in a game that ended controversially.
With Wales Sevens pressing Samoa Sevens on their own line, the Pacific Islanders knocked on but instead of calling a scrum referee David Keane blew for full time with the stadium clock showing twenty seconds of play left.
Skipper Johnathan Edwards, angered by the refereeing decision said, “I was quite baffled. The stadium clock showed 20 seconds left: that’s a massive amount of time in Sevens. We could probably have scored from the scrum.
“But we have to move on and refocus on the Bowl competition quarters. We still have to improve on our game awareness. We don’t want to get sucked into a physical game but rather rely on skill and flair and good off-loading,” added Edwards.
Wales Sevens’ day had started well with a modest 22-7 win over a useful looking USA Sevens side with tries from Dragons’ centre Gareth Chapman, Scarlets’ Lee Williams (2) and a final effort from replacement Nick Wakely, the Newport centre, to finish comfortable winners.
Then against Kenya Sevens, Ospreys’ Martin Roberts scored a try and conversion to give Wales Sevens a 7-0 half-time lead. A touchdown in the corner by Richie Pugh put Wales Sevens 12-0 ahead. However, Kenya Sevens stormed back to score two converted tries leaving Wales Sevens beaten by just two points in a 14-12 thriller.
The Samoa Sevens match was equally tense as Wales Sevens led 14-12 with tries by Williams and Pugh and conversions from Gareth Owen and Williams. But then Samoa Sevens added a converted try to win the tie.
Wales Sevens Squad: Johnathan Edwards (Scarlets, Captain), Richie Pugh (Unattached), James Merriman (Neath), Nick Wakeley (Newport), James Harris (Dragons), Lee Williams (Scarlets), Martin Roberts (Ospreys), Gareth Owen (Ospreys), Rob McCusker (Scarlets), Gareth Chapman (Dragons), Aled Brew (Ospreys), James Lewis (Ebbw Vale)
