[verde-rubro]

come on portugal 6 nations B champions now 7s champions come on please some one in the federation put us in the 6 nations A

Seven RWC Sevens spots settled


Portugal through to Hong Kong - with six European friends in tow
Seven European nations booked their flights to next year's Rugby World Cup Sevens tournament in Hong Kong by clinching the top spots at the Spain Sevens in Mallorca at the weekend.

Italy, Ireland, Scotland, Portugal, Georgia, Russia and France all qualify for the showpiece event thanks to their final positions in the two-day tournament held at the Principes de España stadium in Palma.

But it was Portugal who celebrated hardest after they handed Italy a 21-14 defeat in the Final, having claimed the scalp of Scotland in the semi-final.

The architect of Portugal's Sevens ascent is their coach Tomaz Morais who has enabled a union with limited resources and status to compete and succeed against more established nations.

"The way Portugal do things, maximize their resources and make players of modest potential shine within a collective teamwork, should be an example for the smaller nations," observed veteran Sevens coach Thierry Janeczeck.

The Scots also suffered a surprise 24-14 defeat to Georgia in the group stage, but they bounced back to beat France 35-0 in the quarter-finals.

"I don't know what happens but the French bring the best out of us," said coach Rob Moffat. "We won our last five matches against them and we knew how to handle them.

"The boys gave the defeat a fair amount of thought and on the day were ready to deliver."

Ireland coach Ryan Constable was also pleased with his team's performance.

"This was a very important win for us, as we secured the main objective of our campaign, to qualify for 2005.

"This will enable the Irish Union to create a programme for the Ireland sevens team, to enable us to compete with the best in Hong Kong next year."

The total number of nations now qualified for the Hong Kong finals is 20 - out of the field of 24.

England have already qualified for the Sevens World Cup on the strength of their performance during the 2003/04 IRB World Sevens series.

The next RWC Sevens 2005 regional qualifier takes place in Sri Lanka on September 10-11.

Mallorca qualifiers for RWC Sevens 2005:

France
Georgia
Ireland
Italy
Portugal
Russia
Scotland

Mallorca results (Day Two):

Cup quarter-finals:
Italy 19-12 Russia
Georgia 12-26 Ireland
France 0-35 Scotland
Portugal 12-0 Spain

Cup semi-finals:
Italy 19-12 Ireland
Portugal 29-14 Scotland

Plate semi-finals:
Georgia 25-0 Russia
France 31-7 Spain

Bowl semi-finals:
Romania 7-5 Ukraine
Moldova 0-43 Lithuania

Shield semi-finals:
Poland 26-21 Germany
Czech Republic 7-12 Croatia

Cup final:
Portugal 21-14 Italy

3rd/4th:
Ireland 14-7 Scotland

Plate final:
Georgia 21-45 France

7th/8th:
Russia 17-12 Spain

Bowl final:
Romania 0-49 Lithuania

11th/12th:
Ukraine 35-5 Moldova

Shield final:
Poland 5-17 Czech Republic

15th/16th:
Germany 19-47 Croatia