Samoa enjoyed the perfect preparation for their title defence at the New Zealand leg of the IRB Sevens World Series next month by winning the Punta del Este Sevens in Uruguay on Saturday after beating Buenos Aires Sevens 25-0 in the final.
The islanders had several players in their squad who had played in the opening two tournaments of the IRB Sevens World Series, including Reupena Levasa and their exciting newcomer Alafoti Fa’osiliva - the leading try scorer in George last month.
However Samoa had to do it the hard way by beating three Argentinean sides in the knockout stages, starting with CASI 36-5 in the quarter-finals and then Hindú – featuring RWC 2007 players Horacio Agulla and Hernán Senillosa – 19-14 to reach the final.
Samoa then faced Buenos Aires Sevens, who had beaten Old Boys 21-7 and the Serevi Selection – featuring Waisale Serevi and IRB Sevens World Series all-time leading try scorer Santiago Gomez Cora – 19-7 en route to the final.
Buenos Aires Sevens boasted two of Argentina’s squad who had reached the Cup semi-finals at the last IRB Sevens World Series event in George in Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino and Francisco Merello, but they were unable to deny Samoa the Punta del Este crown.
Tongan boost with Plate success
There was further success for the Pacific nations as Tonga bounced back from their 24-7 Cup quarter-final defeat by Hindú to beat CASI 21-10 and then the Uruguayan national team 19-10 to win the Plate final.
Both Plate finalists were looking for a morale-boosting victory with Tonga – like Samoa – building towards the New Zealand International Sevens in Wellington on 1-2 February when they will face Argentina, Scotland and USA in Pool D.
Uruguay meanwhile will be returning to Punta del Este on 18-19 January for the CONSUR regional qualifying tournament for the Rugby World Cup Sevens 2009 in Dubai, which for the first time will feature both a men’s acnd women’s competition.
The Serevi Selection had earlier ended Uruguay’s hopes in the Cup quarter-finals with a 21-5 victory. The other Pool winners were Old Boys, Buenos Aires Sevens, Samoa, CASI and Hindú while Tonga progressed as the best runner-up from the seven Pools.
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