WUC Rugby Sevens day 2: big guns advance

The action at the World University Rugby Sevens Championships in Swakopmund, Namibia heated up on day two, as the business end of the tournament separated the minnows from the favourites with no major casualties.

In stark contrast from the heat of day one, a steady but icy wind gusted throughout proceedings, keeping organisers busy chasing after tents, chairs and mats that suddenly grew legs with every gust of wind. Yet as fierce as that wind was the competition on the pitch, as teams eyed a place in the knockout stages of the competition.

Play started at exactly midday, with unbeaten France continuing their fine form in Namibia, trouncing Belgium 47-0 in the day’s opener before they almost replicated the same scoreline in their next encounter against Brazil, ending up as 46-0 winners to march on to the semi-finals.

In a far more competitive fixture, southern hemisphere rivals Australia and South Africa squared off, with the South Africans emerging narrow 17-12 winners. The last ladies fixture of the day proved to be the most tightly contested, with South Africa scoring a try at the death to earn a 12-12 draw with Belgium – the only draw in all 29 matches played across the first two days of the competition.

In the men’s fixtures, the final group stage matches saw Pool A’s Sri Lanka earn their first win of the games as they edged Colombia 15-10, joining tournament hosts Namibia in the quarter-finals after the latter beat Malaysia 19-0.

In Pool B, Uganda was too strong for African counterparts Zambia, beating them 45-0, while France secured top spot in the group after beating Argentina 24-0.

Group C’s highly-anticipated encounter between two rugby powerhouses Australia and South Africa lived up to its billing, with South Africa needing to come back from behind to eventually secure a 26-14 victory, the scoreline not doing justice to the closely-fought encounter.

With the sun dipping below the horizon and a number of locals joining proceedings after a hard days’ work, the men’s quarter-finals provided some scintillating rugby with a number of high-scoring encounters, as all the favourites secured their safe passage into the semi-finals: France overpowered Uganda 43-0 in the first quarter-final, before South Africa showed their class with a 52-0 drubbing of Malaysia.

The third quarter-final also saw one of the teams fail to score as Australia succumbed to a 28-0 defeat to Argentina, while the loudest cheer of the day was saved for last, as hosts Namibia secured their spot in the final four with a 50-7 win over Sri Lanka.

The final day of action kicks off at midday on Saturday, with three countries that brought both a men’s and women’s team progressing through to the semi-finals, namely Australia, France and South Africa. The Belgian women’s team rounds up the last four in the ladies event, while hosts Namibia will no doubt enjoy the biggest support in the men’s draw in front of their home fans in their weekend semi-final fixture.

Full Day 2 results:

Women:

Men:

Quarter-finals: