While they are presently something of an unknown quantity in Sevens, Georgia aims to use the IRB Sevens World Series gain valuable experience at the top levels of the sport. They have a major benefit in the fact that 80%b of their players are playing in the French agues. The IRB Series will assist them to develop the game as well as enable them to measure this development against top class opposition. Their aim is to take part in as many of the 10 World Series events as possible. Having already competed at Dubai, they have confirmed their participation in both the Fiji Sevens and Hong Kong Sevens next year. The Sevens code has a brief history in Georgia with the country’s National team only making its debut in June 1998. Surprisingly they won the Heidelberg Sevens in Germany on their first outing. Spurred by this success, the Georgians went on to win the FIRA Cup in France, also in June of last year, against the likes of Portugal and Morocco. Earlier this year, they successfully defended their Heidelberg Sevens title and reached the finals of events in Spain and Israel. The names of Gregory Labadze, Vacili Katsadze and Nodar Abachidze may not be familiar to the ardent Sevens fan yet, but may be once the South African Sevens is over.

SQUAD

1.Gregory Labadze 1 0 5 7.Archil Kavtarachvili

2.Kahabery Kobakhidze 8.Nodar Abachidze 1 0 5

3.Vacili katsadze 2 0 10 9.Teodore Zibzibadze

4.Nodary Anguladze 1 0 5 10. George Bugianashvili

5.Paul Jim Sheladze 2 2 14 11. Badri Khekhelachvili

6.Malkhaz Urdsukachvili 6 2 32 12. Bessik Khamasuridze 1 0 5

Coach: Claud Saurel

Manager: Zaal Lesava

RUGBY WORLD SEVENS SERIE

Fidji 36 pts

New Zelland 36

Sauth Africa 24

Samoa 18

Australia 16

Canada 8

France Tonga 6

Marocco 4

Scotland 2

FIJI AVENGE DUBAI WITH WIN OVER NEW ZEALAND IN STELLENBOSCH

STELLENBOSCH – World Champions Fiji avenged their defeat at the hands of New Zealand in the Dubai Sevens Final on December 3 with hard fought 12-10 win over the New Zealanders in the final of South African Sevens in Stellenbosch on Saturday. The Fijians lost playmaker Waisale Serevi through a hand early on and trailed 7-10 at the changeover. A well-worked half try by star winger Filimoni Delasau settled the match in closing stages. Delasau ended the event with a grand total of tries The Plate final was won by Australia, who beat Samoa 22-19 in close contest. The Bowl Final was won 31- 24 by Tonga who saw off strong late fight-back by Argentina The day kicked off with the quarterfinals in the Bowl competition Namibia beat Kenya 21-20, Argentina got the better of France 19 –10 Uruguay won 20-12 against Japan and Tonga beat Zimbabwe 28-10 to secure their places in the semis The Cup quarters followed with Fiji seeing off a physical from Samoa by 17-14. Georgia eventually ended the run giant-killers Georgia, who beat both Australia and France in Pool stages, by 17-0. South Africa won 17-7 against Canada and Zealand beat Australia 22-14 to book their places in the round of 4 in the Cup In the bowl semi-finals, Argentina beat Namibia 24-12 and Tonga Uruguay 33-5. The Plate semi-finals saw Samoa win 26-7 against Morocco and Australia beat Canada 36 – 12Then it was on to the semi-finals in the Cup competition. Fiji things their own way against Georgia, winning 33-5 and New Zealand had just too much firepower for South Africa, winning 26-0. match was a repeat of last week’s semi-final in Dubai, won 31-0 by the New Zealanders This set the scene for three thrilling finals that brought the curtain down on the inaugural South African Sevens in Stellenbosch.

FIJI SET THE PACE ON DAY ONE OF SA SEVENS IN STELLENBOSCH

10 December 1999

STELLENBOSCH – World Sevens Champions Fiji set the pace on the opening day of the South African Sevens in Stellenbosch, winning three of their Pool games to win through to the Cup quarterfinals. Marshalled by genuis Waisale Serevi, Fiji began with a 52-0 win over Japan, before scoring a 56-0 rout over Namibia and ending the with a tough 28-10 win over Canada While the Fijians kept the 3000-storng crowd thrilled with infectious blend of sevens play, Morocco and Georgia had the mesmerised by scoring several upsets between them. Morocco, virtually unknown quantity in Sevens, shocked Australia 19-12 their opening game, scoring the winning points in the dying minutes This was clearly not enough as they went on to defeat France 14- and Tonga 12-0 in their final Pool clash to secure top spot and advance to the Cup round Georgia, who only began playing Sevens in June 1998 shocked Argentina 21-19 in their first match, and won comfortably 24- against Zimbabwe in their last. They did not have an answer for Zealand in their second match, going down 0-31 New Zealand, although starting slowly with a 33-14 win Zimbabwe, went on to win against Georgia and Argentina (26-7) to win their Pool. It was a disappointing tournament for the Argentinians who lost all three of their matches, to Georgia, New Zealand and Zimbabwe (14-19). Hosts South Africa kept the home crowd enthralled with two solid wins early on. They began with a 37-0 rout of Kenya, followed by 31-0 drubbing of Uruguay, a victory inspired by veteran Williams. The final pool match was a showdown with Samoa, which the Boks won narrowly by 12-7 The final Pool C match between Australia and France became important after both sides had fallen to Morocco. Both sides scored wins over Tonga, Australia by 26 – 19 and France by 22-12. Australia gained the upper-hand in the dying stages of a tight clash to win 26-17 and secure second place in the Pool behind the Moroccans and set up a Cup quarterfinal against New Zealand. he draw for Day Two is as follows:

FINAL POOL STANDINGS

Pool A P W D L F A Pts

Fiji 3 3 0 0 136 10 9

Canada 3 2 0 1 81 54 7

Namibia 3 1 0 2 41 99 5

Japan 3 0 0 3 19 114 3

Pool B P W D L F A Pts

New Zealand 3 3 0 0 100 21 9

Georgia 3 2 0 1 45 70 7

Zimbabwe 3 1 0 2 43 71 5

Argentina 3 0 0 3 40 66 3

Pool C P W D L F A Pts

Morocco 3 3 0 0 45 19 9

Australia 3 2 0 1 64 55 7

France 3 1 0 2 46 52 5

Tonga 3 0 0 3 31 60 3

Pool D P W D L F A Pts

South Africa 3 3 0 0 80 7 9

Samoa 3 2 0 1 80 17 7

Uruguay 3 1 0 2 22 83 5

Kenya 3 0 0 3 10 85 3