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International Rugby Sevens Adelaide 2011 – Wrap Up

The biggest carnival in Australian Rugby was back in Adelaide over the past weekend as The International Rugby Sevens was contested at the Adelaide Oval.

Over the 2nd and 3rd of April, 16  international teams competed for points  towards the HSBC Sevens World Series.

To the disappointment of the crowd – which set an event record of almost 27,000 over both days – Australia were outmuscled in their Cup quarter-final clash against reigning World Series champions Samoa and were knocked out of the race for the Cup 19-14 early in the day, before suffering a heartbreaking loss to Argentina 31-28 in the Plate semi-finals.

Wales went on to upset Argentina 14-7 to claim the second-division Plate final, USA toppled fan favourites Kenya 17-10 to win the Bowl and Japan beat Tonga 22-5 to claim the Shield.

Although the home team didn’t have much success on the field, ARU tournament director Tony Harris declared the weekend a great success. “We’re very happy to see the colour and life that we always see here, it’s surpassed our previous experiences,” he said. Furthermore, Rugby SA chief executive Lachlan Clark said the atmosphere was brilliant. “We’ve had people really get into the fancy dress this year and wearing national colours,” he said. “The crowds have supported all the countries really strongly.”

The next 5-year hosting-rights deal is up for renewal and Adelaide has competition from rival interstate bids from Perth and the Gold Coast. A final decision is expected from the Australian Rugby Union in the next two weeks.

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