N.Z. puts stamp on sevens

Press, 3 April 1989, Page 36

N.Z. puts stamp on sevens

PA Hong Kong Tackle-breaking midfield runs by the late replacement halfback, Kevin Putt, assured New Zealand of its scintillating, 22-10, victory over Australia in the Hong Kong sevens final last evening.

The nippy Putt’s touchdowns also placed New Zealand firmly at the top of the international sevens rugby ladder. The wins at the prestigious Sydney and Hong Kong tournaments during the past week accentuated this status.

With the score at 4-4 and the match poised to swing either way early in the second half Putt pro-

duced his first midfield carve following a long pass from the All Black fullback, John Gallagher. The try by the Waikato player took New Zealand out of the danger zone. It came at a crucial stage of the mach. Australia’s Simon Poidevin had earlier scored following a splendid 50m individual try scoring effort by New Zealand’s backline kingpin, John Schuster. \ However, the man who replaced the injured Alan Crowley could not rest until he had placed the match beyond doubt. Within 2miri of scoring his first touchdown Putt produced a repeat which placed the match beyond

doubt. After the match the New Zealand coach, Peter Thorburn, said he was worried New Zealand’s 12-10 victory over Fiji in the semi-finals may have taken too much out of his players physically. “But as it turned out they were okay,” Mr Thorburn said.

He was modest in victory and rejected a reporter’s suggestion that New Zealand had confirmed itself as the top sevens team in the world. Mr Thorburn attributed the win to the majority possession achieved in set pieces by his forwards, Zinzan Brooke, Dallas Seymour and Eric Rush. New Zealand was des-

perately lucky to win its semi-final over Fiji, and in the other semi-final Australia also struggled to beat the Barbarians by 1210.

Fiji’s Tomasi Cama had to be the unluckiest man 'on the field in the semifinals as twice he was pulled back by the fingernails from what would have been match-winning tries. To their credit, the New Zealanders retained their composure after being down 10-0 at halftime.

In the quarter-finals the results were Australia 22, Irish Wolfhounds 8; Barbarians 24, Canada 12; Fiji 26, Hong Kong 0; New Zealand 22, - Western Samoa 6.