'This victory is for Christchurch'
They were doing the twist in the VIP box and dancing in the stands, but New Zealand rocked where it mattered - on the pitch - as they outclassed England 29-17 to win the Cathay Pacific/Credit Suisse Hong Kong Sevens yesterday.
The uplifting music, which had the full house at Hong Kong Stadium bopping all weekend, stopped for a minute before the Cup final to remember the victims of the earthquakes in Christchurch and Japan. But when the action began, New Zealand called the tune, scoring five tries to three in a comfortable victory.
It gave New Zealand a 10th Hong Kong Sevens title, a winners' purse of US$100,000, and 30 invaluable points to their IRB Sevens World Series tally, which earns them outright top spot, five points ahead of England with three tournaments to play.
Although missing captain DJ Forbes, who sat out the last day with a hamstring injury, New Zealand were running on raw emotion as they kept their pre-tournament promise to win for Christchurch. 'We were playing for Christchurch,' said New Zealand coach Gordon Tietjens, who thanked the organisers for having a minute's silence before kick-off. 'The guys showed a lot of heart. It was the best I have seen them play all season.'
Solomon King set the ball rolling when he beat England flier Ollie Lindsay-Hague in a 50-metre run down the right touchline to give the Kiwis first blood. Powerhouse hooker Greg Barden was held up over the line, but with the majority of the 40,000 crowd urging them on, England were not denied from the ensuing scrum and Mat Turner touched down to level the score at 5-5.
Tietjens' gamble to start with winger Frank Halai instead of Declan O'Donnell proved correct when he scored either side of the break to give New Zealand a 17-5 lead. This was extended by the visionary Tomasi Cama, who stole down the blindside, sold the defence a lovely dummy before nonchalantly touching down.
Trailing 22-5, Barden lifted English hopes when he scored to make it 22-12. However, from the re-start, the outstanding Tim Mikkelson sealed an emotional victory when he found himself in the clear to run down the left touchline to make it 29-12.