2010 WUC Rugby 7s Update: Day 3 of Competitions

Men’s Tournament

PORTO – Russia and Chinese Taipei started another very exciting day of the men’s competition. Once again, the Russian team showed its tactic game winning from Chinese Taipei (45 – 0) and Lebanon (41 – 0).

Portugal is another very strong team in this tournament, getting two wins against Lebanon (68 – 0) and Belgium (5 – 47).

By the end of the day, in a breathtaking match that would decide the first place in Group C, Portugal achieved to beat the men from Russia in the last seconds with a final result of 19-12.

The British and Spanish players also kept on showing their strength and ambition against their opponents of Group D. Great Britain defeated Japan and Morocco by 40 – 5 and 43-7 and Spain won Morocco (28 – 5) and Norway (0 – 53).

At the end of the afternoon, these powerful rugby forces fought against each other for the first place in the Group. And this time Great Britain overcome Spain in a close match with the final score of 12-10.

Women’s Tournament

The female competition kept on very strong in the 3rd day of the WUC Rugby Sevens.

Canada started the day with a victory over Ukraine (21–5), keeping the good form in the tournament. Then the Portuguese students clearly showed their aim on the Cup of the WUC, winning from Guam 51–0.

The last two games in the morning were Norway vs. Russia and Brazil vs. Spain, in which Russian and Spanish athletes completely demonstrated their authority with scores of 38-0 and 34-0. So, it was in a very competitive style that the Spanish and Russian faced each other in the afternoon. At the end, Spain was more efficient, defeating Russia 12–7. Another much anticipated match was Portugal vs. Canada, in which the Canadian girls took early advantage of the encounter, ending the match with 34 points against 12.

The day ended with the first matches for the Bowl and Plate competitions. Ukraine defeated Guam 47-7 for the Bowl and overcame Brazil for the Plate with a final score of 24-0.

Almost There

Russia, Great-Britain, Portugal and Spain: one of them will be the men’s champion of the WUC Rugby Sevens 2010, while the title in the women’s competition will be decided between Portugal, Canada, Russian Federation and Spain. The rest of the men’s and women’s national teams will compete for the Plate and Bowl Cups.

A group of children from 5 to 15 years old belonging to a summer project from Porto City Hall watched the matches.

Exchange of giftsJoão Cunha, a supervisor and Physical Education teacher, said that coming to Bessa’s stadium has been a current practice during school breaks. Besides, “this World Cup has given the children an amazing chance to get to know this sport still not very popular among the Portuguese people”. According to João, the Portuguese national women’s team is quite strong, while Spain with its physically powerful style is regarded as a serious rival. The children were quite excited and cheerful during the women’s match of Portugal against Guam which ended up with a Portuguese victory. “Portugal needs our support! This sport is really funny, we need to try it on the beach with the gifts they gave us”, said the 11 years old Mafalda.