Russia win European 7s title

Photo: Dmitry Inushkin

Officially the two British teams again played as “Great Britain Lions” and “Great Britain Royals”. However, unlike the first leg, the Lions and Royals were entirely national selections from the RFU and WRU respectively, and so we describe them as “England” and “Wales” thrroughout in this report.

After losing to France in the final of thefirst legRussia not only had to win the second leg, but also improve their overall points difference as France began with a 14-point advantage. Despite being faced with, on paper, tricky games against Portugal and Wales, Russia rattled up 148 unanswered points in their pool, putting them firmly in the driving seat for the rest of the tournament. Wales took the pool runner-up spot.

An untried French selection (squads) defied expectations by also winning their pool comfortably, a big 33-0 defeat of an experienced Dutch team particularly standing out. The young Spanish team (five players from their U18 squad) were, perhaps, even more impressive – their 12-7 win against the Dutch being a standout performance. Both they and the Dutch also reached the quarter-finals

The final of the three pools was a far closer affair. The opening two games saw a new-looking England team only see off Belgium by three tries to two, and then Ireland just manage a draw with Italy. The second round showed this as being no fluke as Italians then came within a single conversion of repeating their earlier result against England, and Belgium pushed Ireland all the way. The final two games in Pool C first saw Belgium shock Italy with and exciting 7-5 win, before Ireland swept past England 27-5 to win the pool.

The quarter-finals went largely as expected, France and Russia winning easily. Ireland also saw off the Spanish a little more comfortably than the opening day pools would have suggested, before England took on Wales. Wales looked strong, but errors and inexperience proved costly, especially at half-time when the Welsh chose to kick a penalty on their 10m line to touch rather than attempting to draw level from the final play. England took the game by 14-5.

England faced France in the first semi-final. Two similarly untried teams provided the game of the tournament, France opening up a two-try lead early in the second half, before England fought back to lead into the final play, only for the French to score a dramatic winner. Russia had fewer problems beating Ireland.

Elsewhere there was delight for Finland when they deservedly beat Portugal in the bowl semi-final. While not enough to prevent their relegation, it was arguably one of the best results Finland have achieved at this level. The Dutch also produced the performances that had been expected of them at the start, gaining revenge for their opening day defeat to Spain with a commanding 24-5 win before beating Wales in the plate final 10-0.

England carried their semi-final performance into the third place game to beat Ireland, before the final. A Russian win would give them the overall title, and although France took the lead through teenager Charlotte Torres Duxan after five minutes, after Alena Bogacheva converted her own try to put the Russians in the lead the result never seemed in doubt.

Pool ARussia 51-0 UkraineWales 19-0 PortugalRussia 59-0 PortugalWales 37-5 UkrainePortugal 24-21 UkraineRussia 38-0 Wales

Pool BSpain 12-7 NetherlandsFrance 53-0 FinlandSpain 29-0 FinlandFrance 33-0 NetherlandsNetherlands 36-0 FinlandFrance 26-14 Spain

Pool CEngland 21-12 BelgiumIreland 12-12 ItalyEngland 14-12 ItalyIreland 12-5 BelgiumItaly 5-7 BelgiumEngland 5-27 Ireland

Quarter-finalsFrance 31-7 BelgiumRussia 21-0 NetherlandsIreland 26-0 SpainWales 5-14 England

Semi-finalsBowlPortugal 12-19 FinlandItaly 14-7 Ukraine

PlateBelgium 7-29 WalesNetherlands 24-5 Spain

CupFrance 22-19 EnglandRussia 27-5 Ireland

Final standings

Top scorers (Malemort)Elena Zdrokova (RUS) 45 points (9T)Patricia Garcia (ESP) 44 (6T, 7C)Alena Bogacheva (RUS) 37 (7T, 1C)Jade le Pesq (FRA) 37 (7T, 1C)Christelle le Duff (FRA) 37 (3T, 11C)Nadezdhda Kudinva (RUS) 36 (2T, 13C)Amee Leigh Murphy Crowe (IRE) 3 (7T)Charlotte Torres Duxan (FRA) 30 (6T)Arina Bystrova (RUS) 30 (6T)

Top scorers (series)Elena Zdrokova (RUS) 70 (14T)Christelle Le Duff (FRA) 53 (3T 19C)Daria Lushina (RUS) 49 (3T 17C)Pleuni Kievit (NED) 46 (6T 8C)Cécile Blondiau (BEL) 45 (9T)Willemijn Ter Avest (NED) 45 (9T)Patricia Garcia (ESP) 44 (6T 7C)Baizat Khamidova (RUS) 40 (8T)

11thplace

Portugal 22-5 Ukraine

Bowl finalFinland 0-34 Italy

7thplaceBelgium 14-19 Spain

Plate finalWales 0-10 Netherlands

3rdplaceEngland 12-5 Ireland

Cup finalFrance 5-26 Russia