7777777777777777777

[StreetCowboy]

I've just watched the Thailand - China game - contrary to my earlier post, it's not live on youtube, they're all recorded games.

Woeful handling from China and a red card for back chat saw Thailand handed the advantage, but it was still a nail-biter as China attacked in the dying minute of the game - only to be let down once more by slippery fingers (can I say that on a public forum?)

SC

[StreetCowboy]

In the Plate Semi-Finals, Thailand meet Malaysia again in a repeat of the Malaysia Sevens Plate Final, when Malaysia came out on top. The two neighbours are joined in the Plate Semi-Finals by Kazakhstan and the Philippines, while Japan, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong and South Korea contest the Cup.

And again, the spoils go to the home side, with Thailand progressing 26 - 14 victors over their Southern neighbours

[StreetCowboy]

Chinese Taipei leading their mainland compatriots 14 - 7 at half time in the Bowl Final, but China equalise early in.the second half. Taiwan break, but the man on the wing is forced into touch, China break and take the lead 21 - 14, and the live Youtube feed drops out as the Republic attacks the People's Republic's 22. A check on the Final Scores says that there was no further score, and China came out 21 - 14 winners over Chinese Taipei.

Next up, Malaysia v Kazakhstan for seventh place, then Thailand v Philippines for the Plate, South Korea v Sri Lanka for 3rd place and Japan v Hong Kong in the Cup Final..

Malaysia extend their lead early in the second half 21 - 7 but within a minute Kazakhstan narrow the lead to seven points, and another score again sees the gap reduced to only two points as a Malaysian player is stretchered off with an ankle injury.... and again the Youtube 'live' feed ends prematurely.

A check on the final scores tells us Kazakhstan have scored towards the end of the second half to claim seventh place 26 - 21.

[StreetCowboy]

Thailand fall 22 - 14 to Philippines in the Plate Final, while Sri Lanka win 3rd place with a 29 - 7 victory over South Korea.

The Cup Final ends regular time with the scores tied at 12 - 12, and Japan kicks off for golden point extra and for the second time in the series Japan clinch victory from an error by the Hong Kong team, 17 - 12 to Japan.

[StreetCowboy]

Second leg of the IRB Sevens starts on Friday in Dubai. Let's hope its not as cold and miserable as last year (or 2006).

I thought Scotland had a tough pool with Australia and Wales, but there's none of them any easier.

http://www.irbsevens.com/destination/edition=1/index.html

If there's any of the top seeds going to miss out on a cup quarter-final, I'd choose either England or Australia, and if there's any of the fourth seeds going to make it to the Cup QFs I'd choose Portugal or USA.

SC

[StreetCowboy]

This has got to be the best internet video feed I've ever seen

http://www.irbsevens.com/liveblog/blogid=1856.html

Clear, sharp, smooth movement.

It looks bright and sunny in Dubai this morning - it might be unpleasantly warm later in the day.

South Africa and Samoa won against Argentina and Russia respectively in their pool, while New Zealand extended a 19 - 5 half time lead to 24 - 5 against France.

Scotland are on at 1310 THAI

SC

[StreetCowboy]

Scotland give themselves a good chance of qualifying for the Cup Quarter-Finals with a 21 - 17 win over Pool top seeds Australia... Now back to work, nose down, knuckles to the grindstone

SC

[StreetCowboy]

Scotland keep their Cup hopes alive with an after-the-hooter win against Spain. australia need to win against Wales late tonight to progress - a draw would see Scotland edge them out. A win by about fifty points would see Wales miss out...

[StreetCowboy]

Australia attacking to salvage a Cup Quarter-Final win, trailing against Wales, have a final attack, but the ball goes forward in the offload from the tackle, and they're dancing in the streets of Raith tonight as Scotland put some distance from their peers Portugal and USA, and level with Canada, all of whom will be playing in the Bowl tomorrow, while Scotland mix it with the big boys in the Cup Quarter Finals.

SC

[StreetCowboy]

And what a finale to the first day of play as Fiji hold on for a win over England to secure a place in the top half of the draw tomorrow; under tremendous pressure, Fiji secure possession, and in the tackle, hoof the ball into touch after the tackle.

[StreetCowboy]

In the Cup competition, Fiji stuff Scotland, New Zealand and South Africa comprehensively to win the Cup. A 44 - 0 scoreline is a record defeat for New Zealand, and bizarrely, the Kiwis turn in a lacklustre performance in the rugby league world cup to lose two games in the same day without scoring a try. Australia 34 - 2 New Zealand,

[WitawatWatawit]

Two bloody defeats in one bloody day - and we're not even a bloody state of Australia yet. What's going on here?

Sounds like a great win by the (choke) Aussies in the RLWC. Will look forward to downloading the game from you-know-who Bay.

PS: Next leg of sevens - Port Elizabeth next weekend. SC - know where these games can be viewed? Torrents, maybe?

[StreetCowboy]

Two bloody defeats in one bloody day - and we're not even a bloody state of Australia yet. What's going on here?

Sounds like a great win by the (choke) Aussies in the RLWC. Will look forward to downloading the game from you-know-who Bay.

PS: Next leg of sevens - Port Elizabeth next weekend. SC - know where these games can be viewed? Torrents, maybe?

The stream on the IRB web site - check the link on post 66 - is the best internet video streaming i have ever seen. Beautiful, crisp and clear - like a mountain stream, or smoking Mild 7. A couple of us watched the final Fiji - SA game on my iphone in the pub after the RLWC final.

The NZ Fiji game was fantastic to watch; Fiji were unstoppable, they cut NZ to ribbons. The World Cup final was much less one-sided.

SC

[WitawatWatawit]

Two bloody defeats in one bloody day - and we're not even a bloody state of Australia yet. What's going on here?

Sounds like a great win by the (choke) Aussies in the RLWC. Will look forward to downloading the game from you-know-who Bay.

PS: Next leg of sevens - Port Elizabeth next weekend. SC - know where these games can be viewed? Torrents, maybe?

The stream on the IRB web site - check the link on post 66 - is the best internet video streaming i have ever seen. Beautiful, crisp and clear - like a mountain stream, or smoking Mild 7. A couple of us watched the final Fiji - SA game on my iphone in the pub after the RLWC final.

The NZ Fiji game was fantastic to watch; Fiji were unstoppable, they cut NZ to ribbons. The World Cup final was much less one-sided.

SC

I'm blind as well as stupid - went looking for that and missed it. Cheers, mate, appreciated. I download a lot of games from Pirate Bay (some heaven-bound soul in NZ posts them, so there are a lot of Super and NPC matches), but not much from the RLWC and nothing from the Sevens.

[StreetCowboy]

Two bloody defeats in one bloody day - and we're not even a bloody state of Australia yet. What's going on here?

Sounds like a great win by the (choke) Aussies in the RLWC. Will look forward to downloading the game from you-know-who Bay.

PS: Next leg of sevens - Port Elizabeth next weekend. SC - know where these games can be viewed? Torrents, maybe?

The stream on the IRB web site - check the link on post 66 - is the best internet video streaming i have ever seen. Beautiful, crisp and clear - like a mountain stream, or smoking Mild 7. A couple of us watched the final Fiji - SA game on my iphone in the pub after the RLWC final.

The NZ Fiji game was fantastic to watch; Fiji were unstoppable, they cut NZ to ribbons. The World Cup final was much less one-sided.

SC

I'm blind as well as stupid - went looking for that and missed it. Cheers, mate, appreciated. I download a lot of games from Pirate Bay (some heaven-bound soul in NZ posts them, so there are a lot of Super and NPC matches), but not much from the RLWC and nothing from the Sevens.

I think that the IRB does a great job of promoting the IRB Sevens, and encouraging the growth of rugby in Asia and elsewhere as well. To my mind it is the lower competitions that are the most important - I was cheering for England in the Semi-Final at Wembley, but for me the tournament had more or less ended a fortnight earlier when Scotland qualified for the Quarter-Final. The Quarter-Final itself was, as expected, a one-sided drubbing, but the games leading up to Quarter-Final qualification in the first couple of weeks were tremendous. Similarly, in the Sevens, there are great games all the way down the order - and in the regional qualifications that lead up to a chance at qualifying

SC

[StreetCowboy]

Australia, seeded third in their Pool in Port Elizabeth, will be fancying their chances of reversing this week's defeat by Scotland in Dubai - but less confident when they face Dubai champions and top seeds in the pool, Fiji. England are drawn with Samoa and Argentina, Kenya are pooled with South Africa and Canada, while Wales face New Zealand and Portugal in the pool stages. Play starts on Friday afternoon again

SC

[StreetCowboy]

Viva Las Vegas!

[StreetCowboy]

Congratulations to Fiji on their win in the Tokyo Sevens over South Africa, who move ahead of New Zealand at the top of the standings, after losing the 3-4th place play-off to England.

Further down the rankings, Australia pipped USA to win the plate, while Wales scraped home over Scotland in the Bowl, and Argentina came out winners against Samoa, who were equally bemused to find themselves in the Shield.

Scotland go on to Hong Kong in a challenging group, with the USA, Samoa and New Zealand. Fiji face Kenya and Wales, while England are drawn with Canada and Argentina. In the remaining pool, South Africa will be confident of progressing ahead of Australia or France.

I'll not be going, but I'll try to catch as much as I can on the IRB website live coverage. The first game kicks off on Friday at 17:24 THAI with USA Samoa. I think there's also the qualification tournament for next year's new entrant for the IRB Sevens. I'm a little disappointed that they've changed from last season, when five qualifiers played the three lowest-ranked tour teams for three places;now there's automatic relegation, with eight teams playing for one promotion place.

SC

[StreetCowboy]

I'm guessing you chaps are all away in Hong Kong this weekend.

My planning let me down, and didn't get a ticket, so I'm enjoying the action courtesy of www.irbsevens.com

New Zealand dispatch Scotland in Pool D, and now it's the Belgrano Cup, with England v Argentina in Pool C

It's a good crowd at the So Kon Po Stadium - maybe a lot came along early to see Hong Kong top their pool after two games in the Qualification Tournament for next season's IRB Pool

SC

[StreetCowboy]

USA eventually take the lead against New Zealand in their final pool match at half time.

Hosts, Hong Kong are through to the Semi Finals of the Qualifying Tournament, along with Italy,Japan and Russia

It tipped down stair-rods this morning for the Scotland - USA game - Scotland edged out the colonials 15 - 10, but lost to Samoa, so they'll both be in the bowl. USA and NZ will be in the Cup, along with Canada, England, Australia, South Africa and two from Fiji, Kenya and Wales

The rain's coming on here now, after it was down at Sepang for Qualifying in the motor racing

SC

[StreetCowboy]

The London leg of the IRB Sevens has just kicked off with a win for Samoa over Canada and Kenya leading USA.

http://www.irbsevens.com/liveblog/blogid=1880.html

[WitawatWatawit]

Couple of good games coming up - NZ against Wales, and Fiji and Australia.

Any websites showing the live action?

[StreetCowboy]

Couple of good games coming up - NZ against Wales, and Fiji and Australia.

Any websites showing the live action?

Check the link in my previous post. The IRB coverage is the best on-line television I have ever seen - using Microsoft Silverlight.

Some great fixtures coming up in the Quarter-Finals - perhaps better suited to the Finals; South Africa v New Zealand, and lower down the order, Scotland v Wales. I wish I'd seen England beat New Zealand. I switched off after the Scotland loss to South Africa

SC

[WitawatWatawit]

Just watched the final - I always play catch-up on these things because of weekend work commitments. But that was pretty amazing - 85 points and six converted tries in the first half. Those last 5 minutes .. wow. SC, thanks for the link.

[StreetCowboy]

A great night out at Ibrox on Saturday for the Commonwealth Games Sevens on Sunday.

We had great seats just on half-way at the front of the "Club Deck", and the queue at the bar was not too long - scarcely surprising, at those prices....

SC

The trains were running an extended service, so I was able to get the additional 2315 from Glasgow Queen Street to Edinburgh Waverley via Easterhouses and Bathgate, which was also an exciting new experience for me

[StreetCowboy]

Sorry! Double post!

[StreetCowboy]

This Saturday, the Asian Sevens series kicks off in Hong Kong, with the next leg in KL a fortnight later, and the final leg in Shanghai in October.

SC

[StreetCowboy]

I guess all our friends in Hong Kong are struggling to get internet access, or maybe they are suffering for having hit Wanchai early...

Thailand will be contesting the Bowl in the first leg of the Asian Sevens series tomorrow at the Football Club, while Malaysia will be joining the big boys in the Cup Quarter-Finals

SC

[StreetCowboy]

Great coverage of the second leg of the Asian Rugby Sevens, live on Youtube

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTD-P5WTkTRu6HtC536LgYg

Live from MBPJ Stadium in Kelana Jaya stadium, Malaysia

Thailand win the first match over Philippines

China beat Khazahstan....

SC

[StreetCowboy]

Hong Kong 26 - 0 Thailand at half time, and if it carries on like this much longer Thailand will be unlikely to top their pool