Commonwealth Games

[Old Croc]

Ella claims Aussies 'robbed' in rugby

Australian sevens coach Glen Ella claimed his side was "robbed" after being reduced to five men in a thrilling 14-12 pool loss to England on Thursday.

New Zealand referee Kevin Rowe dubiously sin-binned Brendan Williams and Damon Murphy in quick succession just after half-time when the host nation led 7-0.

England made the most of the two-man advantage to tie the scores against the tiring defence.

Wendell Sailor-lookalike Tom Varndell, just faster and leaner than the NSW Waratahs winger, then grabbed the lead for England with a length-of-the-field try with 78 seconds left.

Western Force recruit Cameron Shepherd scored after the hooter but Brendan Williams failed to nail the wide attempt at goal.

"I thought we were robbed," Ella said.

"I thought the referee had a terrible game.

"We played a minute with six players and at some stage we were with five players.

"It was just unacceptable."

The loss means Glen Ella's star-studded team will meet South Africa, who suffered the upset of the opening day against Tonga before bouncing back to top pool D, in Friday's quarter-finals.

Bolstered by star conscripts Chris Latham, Matt Giteau and Lote Tuqiri, Australia took its best shot at beating England since 2001.

True to Ella's pre-Games prediction, Giteau and Latham were the Australian stand-outs on a day which reaped an early record win over Sri Lanka.

The pair brought the 40,000-plus crowd to its collective feet when they combined to punish a cross-field English kick for Latham to score in just the 90th second.

Strong defence kept the English out in the first half, but Matt Giteau limped off with a knee problem and yellow cards to Williams and Damon Murphy within two minutes after the break let the visitors back in.

Bloody NZ umpire!

[chuchok]

Ella claims Aussies 'robbed' in rugby

Australian sevens coach Glen Ella claimed his side was "robbed" after being reduced to five men in a thrilling 14-12 pool loss to England on Thursday.

New Zealand referee Kevin Rowe dubiously sin-binned Brendan Williams and Damon Murphy in quick succession just after half-time when the host nation led 7-0.

England made the most of the two-man advantage to tie the scores against the tiring defence.

Wendell Sailor-lookalike Tom Varndell, just faster and leaner than the NSW Waratahs winger, then grabbed the lead for England with a length-of-the-field try with 78 seconds left.

Western Force recruit Cameron Shepherd scored after the hooter but Brendan Williams failed to nail the wide attempt at goal.

"I thought we were robbed," Ella said.

"I thought the referee had a terrible game.

"We played a minute with six players and at some stage we were with five players.

"It was just unacceptable."

The loss means Glen Ella's star-studded team will meet South Africa, who suffered the upset of the opening day against Tonga before bouncing back to top pool D, in Friday's quarter-finals.

Bolstered by star conscripts Chris Latham, Matt Giteau and Lote Tuqiri, Australia took its best shot at beating England since 2001.

True to Ella's pre-Games prediction, Giteau and Latham were the Australian stand-outs on a day which reaped an early record win over Sri Lanka.

The pair brought the 40,000-plus crowd to its collective feet when they combined to punish a cross-field English kick for Latham to score in just the 90th second.

Strong defence kept the English out in the first half, but Matt Giteau limped off with a knee problem and yellow cards to Williams and Damon Murphy within two minutes after the break let the visitors back in.

Bloody NZ umpire!

Good ref that one. cheating Aussie deserved everything they get.not only cheat, but whinge like hel_l when they get caught.

[mrbojangles]

Good ref that one. cheating Aussie deserved everything they get.not only cheat, but whinge like hel_l when they get caught.

I concur

It was a good game but why do they have to whinge

They should be saving that for when they get knocked out

[Old Croc]

Good ref that one. cheating Aussie deserved everything they get.not only cheat, but whinge like hel_l when they get caught.

I concur

It was a good game but why do they have to whinge

They should be saving that for when they get knocked out

I wonder how far England will go. Seven players to five for half a match and just scraped home.

[Momenthai]

Anyone know if the 7's is being shown on Thai TV or do you think it'll be shown in the pubs with SA cable?

[mrbojangles]

Good ref that one. cheating Aussie deserved everything they get.not only cheat, but whinge like hel_l when they get caught.

I concur

It was a good game but why do they have to whinge

They should be saving that for when they get knocked out

I wonder how far England will go. Seven players to five for half a match and just scraped home.

Well we just beat Fiji in the semi-final and quite comfortably really. Excellent game. Hope we can perform the same against the All Blacks in the final. Either way, we still get a medal

No medals for Australia though

[chuchok]

What happened? Did the mighty Kiwis prevail?

[chumbles]

Yes the Kiwi's prevailed but it was close. 27-21 i think.

Fiji got the bronze so the Aussie's missed out.

When does the track and field start?

[wolf5370]

I think the Somoa Vs England 1/4 was an excellent steal!

Within the last 30 seconds left on the clock and a centre kick, behind by 2 points, England score a try to take them to the semi.

Didn't see the final, but England lost as Chumbles said - good game?

I love 7's - its a great game. I wish it got better coverage than it does. I like the drop-kick conversions, speed of the game and the fact that its easy to track what's happening as there's so few people on the pitch.

[sadman]

I don't really understand the kerfuffle about England getting as far as they did - they are in the top 3 in the world, with NZ and Fiji. The last IRB 7s Player of the Year was Simon Amor (England captain) with Ben Gollings (England vice-captain) runner-up. The coach, Mike Friday, was a brilliant England 7s captain and is now a brilliant coach.

The business with Australia: yes, the Aussies were reduced to 6 men (the 2 sin-binnings didn't overlap) but for cheating. Had they not cheated, they would have retained 7 men and England may well have won by a far greater margin. I don't want to be silly about this, but England are better than the Aussies and have been for some while. Look at the IRB circuit stats. The popular view that England wouldn't get too far was totally at odds with their regular performances on the circuit.

But NZ - they are (as always) a class act. They have many fantastic players, yes, but they also have the world's best 7s coach (IMHO) in Gordon Titjens (sp?). They are worthy gold medallists.

I have never played 7s to any standard (far too fat and slow) but I watch a lot of quality 7s, both on the circuit and in invitation competitions. I can't get enough of it. For those who like it, keep an eye out for the youngster in the Fijian line-up, William Ryder. He could be even better than the great Serevi, who (again, IMHO) is the finest 7s player who has ever walked the planet.

[chumbles]

Didn't see the final, but England lost as Chumbles said - good game?

Sorry I didn't see it.

[chuchok]

I'm amazed we won.Gordon Titjens was not given anywhere near the selection latitude that his Aussie counterpart had.Many players were not released by their Super 14 teams.Infact i thought we would come 4th or 5th.

Bad luck Aussie.

[sadman]

I'm amazed we won.Gordon Titjens was not given anywhere near the selection latitude that his Aussie counterpart had.Many players were not released by their Super 14 teams.Infact i thought we would come 4th or 5th.

Just shows what strength in depth you have, really. NZ have underperformed on the IRB circuit this year, for the reasons you give. Effectively, Titch has had to use the circuit to blood the youngsters for these games. Not a bad effort, eh?

[Old Croc]

Congratulations NZ. Australia traditionally is not strong in 7s and were not expected to win here, however got some nibbles.,

He's the current medal tally for those interested.

Country Gold Silver Bronze Total

1 Australia 27 19 19 65

2. England 11 12 10 33

3. India 8 6 1 15

4. Canada 4 11 7 22

5. Scotland 4 4 3 11

6. South Africa 4 1 4 9

7. New Zealand 2 3 6 11

8. Malaysia 1 2 4 7

9. Ghana 1 0 0 1

Sri Lanka 1 0 0 1

Tanzania 1 0 0 1

4

[Old Croc]

Englands Burnett (?) has just picked up the gold medal in the pool for 100m freestyle ahead of the favoured S. African Olympic champion

[sadman]

Congratulations NZ. Australia traditionally is not strong in 7s and were not expected to win here, however got some nibbles.,

Don't do yourself down. Until Ben Gollings overtook him last year, Peter Miller (Australia) was the highest scoring 7s player ever. I've played with some absolutely fantastic Aussies and my own view is that they are just rebuilding in 7s, as well as in 15s. With Glen Ella at the helm, it won't be long.