South Africa win 7s Gold in Glasgow (©GettyImages). South Africa won rugby sevens Commonwealth gold in front of a record crowd in Glasgow on Sunday evening.
A closely-fought final saw South Africa edge to a 17-12 win over New Zealand. The result ends the All Blacks' 30 match-unbeaten run in the format.
New Zealand dominance over
Previously, New Zealand had won the gold medal at every other Commonwealth games since rugby sevens was introduced to proceedings in 1998.
The weekend-long competition saw domination by the Southern Hemisphere as all four participants from that region – South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Samoa - reached the medal semi-finals.
It was a disappointing showing from the Home Nations, however, with Scotland, England and Wales reaching the quarter-finals of the medal tournament but missing out on the chance to compete in the semi-finals.
England and Wales went on to compete for the Plate, which England won 17-15. However, hosts Scotland went no further than the Plate semi-final, losing to eventual winners England 15-12.
The fast and furious variation of the 15 a-side format that many people are used to seeing drew in a record crowd for a rugby sevens tournament.
Related articles
Adam Gemili wins Commonwealth silver in the 100m
Chad le Clos wins medal number four
Commonwealth Games: Day five swimming round-up
Growing popularity
The format’s growing popularity has peaked with it having been made an Olympic event.
It was voted in 2009 by the International Olympic Committee to be added to the list of events for the 2016 Olympics in Rio.
The format currently has regular tournaments at club and International level, with New Zealand being the most successful at international level with 11 titles.
Fellow southern hemisphere sides Fiji, Samoa and South Africa all have one title a piece. However, no Northern Hemisphere side has won the tournament yet.
No comments:
Post a Comment