World Sevens Series: Samoa too strong for Scotland in Bowl final
Following another failure to reach the premier Cup quarter-finals after finishing third in Pool A on the opening day, Calum MacRae’s men despatched the Portuguese 29-12 in the Bowl quarter thanks to tries by James Johnstone (2), Scott Riddell, Joseva Nayacavou and Mark Robertson.
In a ding-dong battle with Japan in the semi-final, Nick Grigg, Jamie Farndale (2), Nick McLennan and Nayacavou were the scorers in a 31-26 win.
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Hide AdThey ran out of steam against the Pacific Islanders, however, and Gavin Lowe got the only try in a 19-7 reverse.
The outcome leaves MacRae’s men lying tenth in the overall standings heading into the next tournament in Sydney.
Joe Webber scored a try after the siren as New Zealand beat South Africa 24-21 in the Cup final, defending the title won on home soil last year.
Webber also scored in extra time to give New Zealand a win over South Africa in pool play.
New Zealand, who had the Olympics-targeting World Cup winner Sonny Bill Williams in their squad, beat Kenya 33-0 in Sunday’s quarter-finals and England 22-5 in the semi-finals, while South Africa defeated Australia 26-14 and World Series leaders Fiji 31-0.
South Africa now lead the Series standings by two points from Fiji, who beat England 24-12 in the play-off for third place. New Zealand moved up to third ahead of next weekend’s trip across the Tasman to Sydney.