KEY POINTS:
New Zealand scraped into the semifinals of the International Rugby Board sevens tournament at Dubai with a disjointed 21-17 quarterfinal defeat of Kenya today.
Gordon Tietjens's men were nearly victims of one of the great sevens boilovers after trailing 0-12 late in the first half but fought back to set up a semifinal against England later tonight.
It took a second try to Tim Mikkelson with less than two minutes remaining to avoid humiliation in a match where both sides scored three tries.
The Kenyans, who had lost their 12 other games against New Zealand by sizeable margins, crossed twice inside the first six minutes through captain Humphrey Kayange and speedster Gibson Weru.
New Zealand forward Solomon King responded with a key try on the stroke of halftime to round out an error-ridden opening spell.
Mikkelson snared his first try just after the break to put his side 14-12 up but Kenya regained the lead when Collins Injera pounced on a loose ball and cruised 80m.
Tough defence and several minutes of New Zealand pressure created the late opening for Mikkelson, who collapsed over in the right corner to the relief of his teammates and Tietjens.
England, who beat Argentina 15-5 in their quarterfinal, were impressive winners over Fiji on the first day of the tournament yesterday.
New Zealand comfortably accounted for Wales, Zimbabwe and Australia in pool play.
- NZPA
