Wales wilted in the heat as New Zealand surged home to book a
Commonwealth Games sevens rugby semifinal with a 31-10 win
today.
Rocked on to the back foot early in the quarterfinal, New
Zealand broke out of their half for the first time in the
sixth minute to score through Kurt Baker and take a 7-5 lead
into halftime.
An animated halftime message from coach Gordon Tietjens
seemed to do the trick as the three-time defending gold
medallists bounced back to score four second-half tries.
New Zealand will play England in the semifinals later today
after the English eliminated Samoa 7-5 in a tense
quarterfinal boilover.
It was disastrous result for the Samoans, who were dominant
in winning this year's sevens world series but haven't been
at their best here, having lost to Kenya in pool play
yesterday.
New Zealand's semifinal is a rematch of the Games final at
Melbourne four years ago and brings together the two most
prolific tryscoring teams at this tournament, with New
Zealand having scored 29 times and England 22.
The other quarterfinals pitted Kenya against Australia and
South Africa against Scotland.
After cruising in for 141 points against Canada, Guyana and
Scotland in pool play, New Zealand took time to adjust to the
challenge of Wales, the surprise World Cup winners last year.
The Welsh crossed in the fifth minute through Ifan Evans,
whose 40m burst to score was just reward for their tight
defensive efforts.
New Zealand struck back through the first of two tries to
Baker, who took advantage of a half-break and offload from
Ben Smith.
It was one-way track after halftime as Smith, Baker and Hosea
Gear crossed, mostly through turnover ball as the New
Zealanders muscled up at the tackle.
It was clear they wanted to get the ball into Wellington
winger Gear's hands as often as possible although he was well
contained.
Indeed, he looked tired when he was stood up by Welsh
opposite Aaron Shingler for their second try near the end.
The final say went to New Zealand when reserve halfback Toby
Arnold pounced on a loose ball for their sixth try.
Tim Mikkelson, who injured his calf yesterday, wasn't used
while Tietjens also didn't employ the raw pace of Sherwin
Stowers.
All Blacks winger Zac Guildford didn't get on until late,
emphasising the depth at New Zealand's disposal.
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