Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Stannard leads Australia to victory in London 7s

Captain James Stannard touched down and kicked two conversions Sunday to lead Australia to a 19-14 win over South Africa in the final of rugby union's London Sevens.

Australia led 7-0 when Brackin Karauria-Henry scored a try that Stannard converted but South Africa rallied for 7-7 at halftime.

The scrumhalf then touched down at the start of the second period, but his missed conversion gave South Africa the chance to go 14-12 up with four minutes left through Fabian Juries' converted try.

However, Henry Vanderglas got Australia's third try with 90 seconds remaining and Stannard added the extras.

Cecil Afrika then looked set to score a winning try but Stannard was covering and managed to execute a match-saving tackle.

Series leader Samoa won the last three tournaments in Hong Kong, Adelaide and Las Vegas but went empty handed after losing 24-12 to South Africa in the cup semifinals.

Samoa still leads with 140 points through seven rounds, with New Zealand in second place on 133.

New Zealand edged Fiji 26-24 to win the second-tier plate, while Canada beat the United States 22-17 in the bowl semifinals and then won the title with a 19-17 win over Portugal.

Kenya beat France 24-21 to take the shield.

Australia is tied for third place with Fiji on 102 points ahead of next week's Edinburgh Sevens.

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