Rugby World Cup Sevens: Wales pulled off the biggest shock on a day of surprises at the Rugby World Cup Sevens with a 15-14 quarter-final victory over heavyweights New Zealand.
England crashed out of the tournament with a 31-26 sudden-death defeat to Samoa, while Kenya beat world champions Fiji and Argentina held off South Africa. The four matches were all won by the underdogs and confirmed a semi-final spread from four different continents.
In the Bowl quarter-finals, Ireland were 24-5 winners over the Arabian Gulf.
Wales have now beaten New Zealand twice in a month and will face England’s conquerors Samoa in the semi-finals later today.
Wales took a 10-7 lead over injury-hit New Zealand with tries from Lee Williams and Richie Pugh but Aled Thomas missed both conversions.
New Zealand appeared to have the match tied up against Wales when they moved 14-10 ahead and Viliame Waqaseduadua broke through for what seemed a certain try.
But Waqaseduadua inexplicably fumbled with no-one around him — and Wales capitalised to beat New Zealand for the second time in three weeks when Isaacs hacked on Richie Pugh’s pass to score.
“The win in Wellington gave the boys a great belief in themselves. But that’s still a fantastic result. To beat New Zealand twice in three weeks is a huge boost for Welsh sevens,” said coach Paul John.
“All 10 players that we used were outstanding.”
