WRAP UP: Dubai 7s - Day One
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The World Rugby Sevens Series returned with a bang on 5 December with five of the eight men's matches on day one of the Dubai Rugby Sevens 2019 decided by seven points or less.
Series champions Fiji held off a fast-finishing Japan 24-17, while USA beat new core team Ireland 24-19 and South Africa had to come from behind to edge Kenya 17-12 in the last match of the day at 7he Sevens Stadium.
Samoa and France were the other narrow winners, coming through against Canada and Argentina respectively with a successful conversion giving Les Bleus the smallest winning margin of the day, 12-10.
By contrast, defending champions New Zealand and England put Wales and Spain to the sword by the same margin – 36-7 – while Australia were the day's top scorers with seven tries in a 43-14 defeat of Scotland.
As the first of six combined men’s and women’s event on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2020, Dubai marks the start of a new era for rugby sevens as the women’s competition increases to a record eight rounds and with the Tokyo 2020 Olympics taking place next summer.
The action continues in the desert on 6 December with the two remaining rounds of pool play before the knockout stages on Saturday.
The footwork from @speckmagic11🤩🤩#Dubai7s pic.twitter.com/1uxW2Ub5l8
— Ultimate Rugby (@ultimaterugby) December 6, 2019
Samoa will again kick off the men's matches at 7he Sevens Stadium, this time against Wales at 11:14 local time (GMT+4) before defending champions New Zealand tackle Canada.
Photo credit: Mike Lee - KLC fotos for World Rugby
