Rugby sevens: England labour past Samoans

Quarter-final with Fiji for Greening's men while Wales face New Zealand

As England advanced, none too convincingly, to the quarter-finals of the Commonwealth Games sevens tournament, another Englishman had a controversial hand in their destiny. Steve Lander, the referee, awarded Australia a penalty try during their 19-12 win over Fiji, a result which meant that last night England faced the Fijians in the last eight.

Despite playing in a far from dynamic manner, England finished top of pool C following Friday's laboured victories over the Cook Islands and Kenya, with a 19-7 defeat of Samoa yesterday.

The Samoans, who began the tournament by losing to Kenya, are short on pace and ideas, but England still found it hard work. The first half was a sterile affair, enlivened seconds before the whistle by a try from captain Phil Greening.

Faapito Malagitau made the fatal mistake of going for an interception, leaving Josh Lewsey in space and his pass found Greening in splendid isolation.

Leading 5-0 at half-time, England were indebted to Simon Amor in the second period. Samoa failed to clear a grub kick from Henry Paul and, as the ball bobbled near the line, Amor, despite appearing to knock on, was credited with a touchdown. For an encore, he took a tap penalty and hood-winked the Samoan defence, sprinting over from 30 yards without a hand being laid on him.

With Amor adding the conversions, England led 19-0, Samoa's only response against some effective defence coming with a late try from Fa'atonu Fili.

"The pace of our game and the communication between the players is gradually picking up," Greening said. So gradually it was barely perceptible.

The winners of Australia-Fiji met Samoa in the quarters, the losers played England. And the way Fiji spilled possession in perfect conditions made you wonder whether they were looking forward to taking on the English.

Australia were quickly into their stride, Richard Graham capitalising on good work by Cameron Pitherto to steal down the right touchline unopposed.

Things went from bad to worse for Fiji when Viliame Satala, involved in a last-ditch attempt to deny Tim Atkinson a try, was adjudged by referee Lander to have illegally won possession and conceded a penalty try. It was a decision greeted with derision by the crowd.

After Scott Barton had scored Australia's third try to make it 19-0, Fiji finally began to play. Vilimoni Delasau crossed for two tries and, by the end, Australia, who prevailed 19-12 were engaged in desperate defence.

There was the same scoreline between South Africa and Wales. Both had already qualified for the quarter-finals but the losers knew they would have to face New Zealand. As a result, the match was fiercely contested.

South Africa got off to a flyer when Jean de Villiers, a brilliant prospect, beat Gareth Wyatt on the outside. Wales responded with a robust effort from their captain, Jason Foster, who smashed over from a scrum and the Welsh hit the front at 12-7 when Gareth Thomas touched down after a powerful run down the left.

South Africa played a masterstroke at half-time by throwing on Fabian Juries and he sprinted half the length of the pitch with almost his first touch of the ball after being released by de Villiers.

The atmosphere at the City of Manchester Stadium may not have rivalled the carnival of the Hong Kong Sevens, but the crowd, basking in sunshine, were warming to the spectacle, particularly when Paul Treu hit Wyatt with a high challenge, then Anton Pitout caught Robert Howley with a boot as the Welshman dived for the ball.

As Howley left the field, South Africa clinched victory with an opportunist try by Conrad Jantjes, who kicked ahead and won the race for the touchdown.

Pitout was penalised for his attack on Howley but escaped a yellow card, a fate that befell Karl Tenana during New Zealand's 26-12 triumph over Scotland. "Our discipline let us down a couple of times and there was a bit of punching going on," said Bruce Reihana, one of New Zealand's try scorers. "Playing this game is hard enough with seven people let alone six. We've got to stop giving away all those silly penalties."

Tenana was sin-binned by referee Stuart Dickinson of Australia for a dangerous tackle. He had only appeared as a second-half replacement for the skipper, Eric Rush, and was on the field for just two minutes and four seconds before being shown the yellow card.

By that point Scotland were 20-0 down against the favourites, for whom 37-year-old Rush scored two early tries. Scotland were eliminated from the main Cup competition, having already been beaten by Canada.

New Zealand were further disrupted by an injury to Chris Masoe and the Scots rallied in the dying minutes with Scott Patterson scoring two tries.

The top two teams in each pool went through to the quarter-finals in pursuit of the medals and the third and fourth finishers play in the Bowl Competition. Nor was their any rest for the losers of the quarter-finals. Today they go into a Plate competition.

"The youngsters back home have now got something to look forward to," said Charles Cardovillis of Kenya, who were beaten 14-12 by the Cook Islands. "It's been a fantastic experience, awesome."