Dubai Rugby Sevens: All Blacks win; SA survive scare

The US and Ireland players fight for possession during the Emirates Airlines Dubai Rugby Sevens at the Sevens Stadium. (Photo by Neeraj Murali)

Dubai - Although it is still early days to Tokyo, with the Summer Games still six months away, the All Blacks got working towards that goal

The New Zealand Rugby Sevens men's team followed in the footsteps of their female counterparts with a successful start to their Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens defence on Thursday night.
After the women had slayed Japan earlier, the All Blacks, six-time champions of the Dubai Sevens, worked off Wales 36-7 in their Pool C opener on Pitch 1 at The Sevens Stadium.
It was a good way to ease the hurt of finishing third behind Fiji and the United States in the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series and also put them on the road for the Tokyo Olympics.
Although it is still early days to Tokyo, with the Summer Games still six months away, the All Blacks got working towards that goal.
New Zealand were knocked out in the quarterfinals by Fiji, who went on to triumph as the Sevens made its Olympic debut in Rio in 2016.
Meanwhile, six-time winners South Africa survived an early scare to edge past Kenya 17-12 in Pool D.
Men's action had got going with Samoa putting aside the sorrow of losing young children to the measles epidemic with a 19-12 victory over Canada in Pool C.
Samoa, who had won the tournament in Dubai in 2012 and were runners-up in 2002, 2009 and 2010, were given a great welcome at the venue, prior to their tournament opener. Gary Chapman, President Emirates Group & dnata, had urged on tournament eve, to extend a warm welcome to the Samoans.
"Samoa are going through a pretty terrible time right now because of the measles epidemic. And I know that some of the Samoan players themselves have been personally affected by this," Chapman had said.
The deadly measles epidemic has so far claimed over 60 lives in Samoa.
james@khaleejtimes.com

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