Vaipava Nevo Ioane of Samoa emerged from twenty weightlifters in the 62kgs category to claim a bronze medal at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. Lifting a combined 271kg in the snatch and clean and jerk, Ioane’s feat is hopefully the first of many medals to come from our weightlifters.
Manu Samoa is to play England in the quarterfinal of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games after a convincing opening day at the tournament where they won all their games.
Over 90,000 fans packed into Ibrox Stadium to witness two thrilling sessions on the first day’s play in the Rugby Sevens tournament at the Commonwealth Games.
In two years time Sevens will take its place at the Olympic Games in Rio and once again defending Commonwealth Games champions New Zealand have underlined their credentials in multi-sports events.
The All Blacks Sevens have won all four Commonwealth Games gold medals contested to date and maintained their 100% record in Commonwealth Games on day one at Ibrox with three wins from three, a feat matched by Samoa, Australia and South Africa.
Tournament hosts Scotland won a crucial match against Canada late in the day to proceed with New Zealand from pool A and join the kiwis, South Africa, Kenya, Samoa, Wales, England and Australia in the medal quarter-finals on day two.
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Pool A – New Zealand, Canada, Scotland, Barbados
Sir Gordon Tietjens’ side began their fifth Games campaign with a 39-0 victory against Canada thanks to two tries apiece from captain DJ Forbes and Ben Lam, before Sherwin Stowers scored twice in an enthralling 17-14 defeat of Scotland and a final win, 59-0, against Barbados.
They were most uncomfortable against Scotland. Leading 17-0 in the second half they conceded two tries to Lee Jones but held on for a 17-14 win. If Scotland almost upset the favourites in that, their first match, they turned on the style in their second by beating Barbados 56-0 and then scored a crucial 21-5 win against Canada to reach the medal quarter-finals on day two.
After that initial chastening loss to New Zealand, the Canadians bounced back to beat the Bajans 68-5, captain John Moonlight scoring two tries and Nathan Hirayama adding 17 points, but their two losses mean the Canadians are out of the medal running.
Pool B – South Africa, Kenya, Cook Islands, Trinidad and Tobago
Seabelo Senatla scored a hat-trick in both of South Africa’s first two games and another in their decisive win against Kenya as the Delhi bronze medalists topped their pool. The Blitzboks beat Trinidad and Tobago 38-0 and Cook Islands 50-0 to win a place in the medal quarter finals and then outclassed Kenya to win 20-0 in the final game of the first day.
Recently capped Springbok Cornal Hendricks scored a second half hat trick in a little over one minute against the Cooks as the Blitzboks built momentum and caught the eye on day one.
Two tries from Collins Injera helped Kenya to their opening 28-0 win against the Cook Islands and they then recorded a 35-5 win against T&T in the second session to book their place in the medal knock-outs.
The Cooks beat Trinidad and Tobago 33-10 with James Raea scoring a hat-trick.
Pool C – Samoa, Wales, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia
With former captains Lolo Lui and Afa Aiono back in the side, Samoa scored three opening victories to guarantee themselves a place in the quarter finals as top seed from their pool. Early on they beat fellow Oceania side Papua New Guinea 33-14 and in the second session they eased to a 54-0 win against Malaysia before a late 19-12 victory over Wales.
Wales are also still in the hunt for medals on day two after a 52-0 win against Malaysia and a 29-7 win over PNG.
Earlier the Papua New Guineans bounced back from their opening defeat to beat Malaysia 36-7, Albert Levi scoring twice, and their try against Wales also brought the biggest cheer from the generous crowd.
Pool D – England, Australia, Sri Lanka, Uganda
2010 silver medalists Australia scored three wins in Pool D, crucially beating England in the pool decider in the day’s penultimate match, 15-7. Earlier the Wallaby Seven beat Sri Lanka 62-7 with to 27 points from Cameron Clark, and Uganda 43-5 with four tries for Greg Jeloudev.
England earlier won their first two matches to book their place in medal knock-outs. Dan Norton, captain Tom Mitchell, Phil Burgess and James Rodwell all scored two tries in a 57-0 win against Sri Lanka and they then beat Uganda 40-0. They did, though, lose captain Mitchell against Australia to an injury which may end his tournament.
Uganda scored a memorable 17-14 win against Sri Lanka in the penultimate tie of the pool.
Cup (medal) quarter-finals
New Zealand v Kenya
Australia v Wales
Samoa v England
South Africa v Scotland
Bowl quarter-finals
Canada v T&T
Uganda v Malaysia
PNG v Sri Lanka
Cook Islands v Barbados
Commonwealth Games Rugby Sevens - Roll of Honour
1998, Kuala Lumpur - New Zealand
2002, Manchester - New Zealand
2006, Melbourne - New Zealand
2010, Delhi - New Zealand
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