Join us at nzherald.co.nz as we bring you live updates of day two of the Wellington IRB Sevens at Westpac Stadium.
21:41:New Zealand win the 2011 Wellington IRB Cup final The New Zealand side are presented with their medals and the Cup trophy.
It was an exciting finale for the 2011 Wellington IRB sevens.
New Zealand trailed early in the match after Isoa Damudamu went under the posts to score.
Add to that the loss of DJ Forbes New Zealand had their backs against the wall after the first minute.
However the New Zealand side played with plenty of mana and toughness and their defence held out the English attack up until the last seconds of the match when they conceded a consolation try.
For New Zealand, Declan O'Donnell will be remembered in years to come for his hattrick in this final. His outstanding footwork and blistering pace brought the Westpac Stadium to their feet everytime he touched the ball.
The performance of forwards Lote Raikabula, Tim Mikkelson and Solomon King in doing the dirty work up-front stood out and allowed O'Donnell and Frank Halai to make huge metres up-field.
An overwhelming performance by New Zealand over England.
New Zealand are winners of the 2011 Wellington IRB sevens.
21:28:England v New Zealand, Cup final England score a consolation try to Simon Hunt but its too little too late for England.
New Zealand win the Cup final 29-14.
21:26:England v New Zealand, Cup final The name is Declan O'Donnell!
Hatrrick for O'Donnell.
The young winger regathers the ball and pulls off his trademark shimmy sliding past Ben Gollings to score in the corner.
Conversion goes wide 29-7 to New Zealand.
21:21:England v New Zealand, Cup finalO'Donnell goes it again.
The young star motors 80 metres to give New Zealand a comprehensive lead.
He's been the best player all day at Westpac Stadium.
The ball was turned over inside the new Zealand 22 and Cama gave O'Donnell the ball down the short side.
O'Donnell skipped inside his marker and sprinted 80 metres to slide over in the left-hand corner.
New Zealand lead 24-7. Three minutes to go.
21:19:England v New Zealand, Cup final Cama goes down injured with six minutes remaining.
A crucial period of play with New Zealand in their 22 with the restart after Cama forced the ball in-goal.
21:15:England v New Zealand, Cup final New Zeland strike first in the second half.
Tomasi Cama throws the dummy and slides through two England defenders to score from 20 metres.
Cama converts. 19-7 to New Zealand.
21:12:England v New Zealand, Cup final Declan O'Donnell does it again for New Zealand with a brilliant individual try.
O'Donnell was set free by Tim Mikkelson's pass and it was a foot race to the corner with Dan Norton of England.
The young Waikato speedster shrugged off his desperate tackle to go in behind the posts to slide over.
Conversion over. 12-7 to New Zealand. Halftime hooter sounds.
21:07:England v New Zealand, Cup final Tomasi Cama does a goose step which offsets the English rush defence and finds Toby Arnold on his left who goes in to score.
Cama misses the conversion.
21:02:England v New Zealand, Cup final Double blow for New Zealand.
Skipper DJ Forbes injured his knee trying to stretch out to make a tackle on Damudamu.
First the try and now Forbes.
He reluctantly goes off. He's replaced by Solomon King.
21:02: England v New Zealand, Cup final England's Isoa Damudamu scores under the posts.
First blood to England.
Simple wrap around move and Damudamu steps inside DJ Forbes to score under the black dot.
Ben Gollings converts.
21:00:England v New Zealand, Cup finalThe game gets underway. England kick to New Zealand.
20:51: The big show is ahead with New Zealand to tackle England in the Cup final.
New Zealand have been the most impressive side in the tournament yet all prior results will have know significance to this match's outcome.
Can the New Zealand side get the monkey off their back and win their home tournament?
20:48: Fiji v South Africa Another try to Fiji off a chip and chase.
Fiji score their fourth try to beat South Africa 26-12.
Fiji are the 2011 Plate winners.
20:46: Fiji v South Africa Fiji's Ilai Tinai pushes the FIji lead out to 19-12.
Tinai hacks the looseball upfield and has enough pace to hold off the chasing South Africans to pounce on the ball in-goal.
20:43: Fiji v South Africa Kyle Brown of South Africa muscles his way over.
Brown recieves the ball off the lineout and barges through a Fijian defender from five metres.
The conversion could level the match. Missed.
Two minutes remaining.
20:38: Fiji v South Africa Watisoni Vatu scoots in for a try from 65 metres.
A converted try on the stroke of halftime gives Fiji the 14-7 lead over South Africa in the Plate final.
20:30: Fiji and South Africa will meet in the Plate final.
Both sides will look to finish their Wellington tournament with a victory heading in to next week's Las Vegas leg.
20:20: Kenya v Tonga, Bowl final Kenya are the Bowl winners for 2011.
A valiant performance by the Kenyans who underperformed on the opening day with three straight losses.
A deserved 19-0 victory over Tonga who had little possesion and when they did get the pill the Kenyan defence was resolute.
19:50: France v USA, Shield final USA win the Shield final 19-12 over France.
A tight game but the Americans were too strong for the French side who looked a shade of the side that blitzed PNG 52-12.
Roland Suniula, Paul Emerick and Tai Enosa were the tryscorers for the USA while Terry Bouhraoua crossed twice for France.
19:20: New Zealand v Australia New Zealand go in to the Cup final holding off Australia 17-0.
It was the men in blacks defence which got the side through to the Cup finale as they defended stoutly despite going down to six men at one stage in the match.
The standouts for the match were Captain DJ Forbes, back Declan O'Donnell and super-sub Buxton Popoali'i who sparked the side when he came on for his three minute cameo.
19:17: New Zealand v Australia O'Donnell makes another swift step to beat his man and struts in behind the posts.
Brilliant try from the Waikato younsgter.
Conversion missed. 17-0 to New Zealand.
19:13: New Zealand v Australia Tomasi Cama goes to the bin after receiving a yellow card for a no-arms tackle.
19:08: New Zealand v Australia New Zealand lead 12-0 at halftime.
19:06: New Zealand v Australia Tim Mikkelson gets the second try.
Captain DJ Forbes released Mikkelson down the sideline who beat two defenders with a neat swirve step before going in behind the posts to score.
Tomasi Cama converts.
19:02: New Zealand v Australia Declan O'Donnell scores the match's opening try.
He runs a smooth running line which gets him through the Australian defence and he scoots away from the sweeper to slide over untouched.
O'Donnell is a young rising star in the sevens game.
New Zealand lead 5-0.
18:56: England v Samoa Fantastic game.
England survive a late Samoan onslaught to go through to the Cup final with a 7-5 win.
Samoa had a chance to snatch the victoy late in the game but Reupena Levasa's follow-up kick with the line wide open forced the ball dead.
18:51: England v Samoa The England side show their class with John Brake scoring from 95 metres.
Ben Gollings converts. 7-5 to England with 2 minutes remaining.
Great team try as they worked their way out of their five metre line for John Brake to latch onto to the final pass to touch down for the crucial try.
18:44: England v Samoa Samoa hold on to the one try lead to go up 5-0 at the break.
England making a few errors in the Samoan half which is letting them off the hook.
If they can hold on to the pill they can really threaten the Samoan side that doesn't feature a noted speed man with Mikaele Pesamino on the bench.
18:40: England v Samoa Ofisa Treviranus scores the first try of the match.
Simika Mikaele made the break up the middle and held oFf three defenders before offloading to Treviranus to go in from 40 metres.
Conversion missed 5-0 Samoa.
18:30: England will take on Samoa in the first Cup semi at 6.35pm (NZT).
Followed by New Zealand and Australia in the second Cup semi at 8.00pm (NZT).
18:19: Wales v South Africa Wales register on the scoreboard with a consolation try to Alex Cuthbert after the hooter.
South Africa advance to the Plate final with a comfortable 22-5 victory over Wales.
The Welsh are eliminated from the 2011 Wellington IRB Sevens.
South Africa will play Fiji in the Plate final.
18:09: Wales v South Africa South Africa score twice to hold a 14-0 lead.
17:57: Argentina v Fiji The Fijian side's superior support play see's them through to the Plate final with a 28-0 victory.
Three tries were added to the two from the firsthalf.
The Puma's were outplayed in all facets of the game as the Fijians dictated the match from start to finish.
A disappointing loss to Samoa in the Cup quarterfinal was the catalyst for this outstanding performance.
Wales v South Africa to follow.
17:45: Argentina v Fiji Two tries to Fiji gives the Bati a 14-0 lead at halftime in the Plate semifinal.
17:38: Cook Islands v Tonga Tonga win 12-7 with Poteki scoring a try after the fulltime siren.
A controverisal ending to the match as Poteki scores his second try from what looked to have been a forward pass.
To add further controversy the Cook Islands were left with six men on the banch after Robsinson was sent to the bin for a foot-trip which on the replay looked like a tough call.
A cruel decision for the Cook Islands to go out of the Bowl series.
17:34: Cook Islands v Tonga Nathan Robinson of the Cook Islands scores a try and nails the crucila conversion with 30 seconds to go.
17:24: Cook Islands v Tonga Vaea Poteki scores the only try of the half as Tonga take a 7-0 lead over the Cook Islands.
It's been a see-saw affiar with both sides packing plenty of punch up-front but have been found lacking in the speed department.
The winner will go through to the Bowl final.
17:13: Kenya v Scotland A try after the fulltime hooter to Biko Adema shatters Scotland's hopes of a bowl final.
Scotland did the hard work by fighting back to score two tries after trailing at the break.
With time up in the match Kenya got the ball and muscled their way to the Scottish tryline where Adema went over to Scotland's dismay.
Cook Islands v Tonga to follow.
17:02: Kenya v Scotland Kenya hold a slim lead over Scotland in the Bowl semi.
An early try to Kenya was all the scoring that took place in the firsthalf.
It's been a game littered with handling errors and neither side have shown any spark in their play.
The conditions look to be affecting the general play with the damp pitch making the ball slippery after light showers earlier in the day.
16:53: France v Papua New Guinea The PNG side score two tries in the final seven minutes to bring a few cheers from the crowd.
But the French side were all class with an outstanding 50-12 victory.
The PNG side are a crowd favourite at this even but that was hard to watch as France tore them to pieces.
Kenya v Scotland to follow.
16:42: France v Papua New Guinea It's all France in this match with the blue boys going in to the break 31-0.
France have given the Pupuks a sevens lesson with five superb tries.
The PNG boys looking out of sorts in the firsthalf.
France pile on the points with some crisp running lines and neat footwork.
16:27: USA v Canada USA's Tai Enosa proves to be the match winner scoring two of four tries in the secondhalf to get his side home 31-7.
The Americans started the second stanza with a hiss and a roar and overwhelmed their North American opponents.
Four tries in four minutes for the Americans did the job.
16:19: USA v Canada It's locked up at 7 all between rivals Canada and the USA.
Both sides scored a try apiece in a match that has been a fiesty affair.
16:03: New Zealand v Wales The Cup semifinal draw has been confirmed.
England meet Samoa and New Zealand will take on traditional rivals Australia.
15:57: New Zealand v Wales Another star in the making comes off the bench to score for New Zealand.
Buxton Popoali'i scampers down the left-hand touchline to score in the corner.
An exciting prospect from the Wellington rugby system Popoali'i makes a break before outsprinting the cover defence to score.
He converts his own try on the fulltime hooter. 26-5 to New Zealand.
15:51: New Zealand v Wales O'Donnell adds another try.
The attacking movement started in New Zealand's own tryline with David Raikuna making a terrific burst upfield.
The move broke down after a wayward pass but Captain DJ Forbes passes back inside to O'Donnell who steps inside the last defender to score his second and New Zealand's third.
Conversion missed 19-5 to New Zealand.
15:48: New Zealand v Wales Halftime siren sounds with New Zealand leading 14-5.
15:46: New Zealand v Wales New Zealand's Declan O'Donnell extends the lead with a superb individual try.
The Waikato youngster takes on the Welsh defence with a neat dummy pass which releases him past the first line of defence.
Eyeing up the sweeper O'Donnell moves past him with a neat sidestep which gets him on the outside before putting on the afterburners to score under the posts.
Conversion over 14-5 to New Zealand.
15:44: New Zealand v Wales Wales hit back with a try to Gareth David.
An attacking raid on the New Zealand tryline pays off for the Welsh as they tire out the defence for David to dive over from close range.
15:40: New Zealand v Wales Tim Mikkelson sprints away from the Welsh defence to score.
Fantastic try to New Zealand. The crowd is going crazy after the homeside's try.
7-0 to New Zealand.
15:36: Australia v South Africa Australia are through to the Cup Semifinals after their 12-5 victory.
A try to the South Africans in the last 30 seconds of play wasn't enough to get them home.
The South African side stood around after the try without any urgency to take the conversion.
The conversion was taken at the sound of the hooter which came as a shock to the Springbok players who may have thought that they had time for a restart.
New Zealand v Wales to follow in the last of the Cup quarterfinals.
15:26: Australia v South Africa Australia go to the break 14 nil up.
The South Africans are struggling to get their forwards through the tough Aussie tackling.
Add a number of errors to their play and it's been a dismal opening stanza for the Springboks.
Australia are showing real toughness in their side. Definately the dark horse of competition. A very impressive firsthalf.
15:22: Australia v South Africa John Grant scores Auastralia's second try with two minutes left on the clock in the firsthalf.
The Aussies lead 14-0.
It's all going well for the green and gold at Westpac Stadium.
15:13: Fiji v Samoa A thrilling finish to the match as Fiji's desperate last-gasp effort for a try falls short.
Samoa beat Fiji 12-5.
After series of offloads and jinking sidesteps the Fijian side looked to have Samoa outnumbered but a huge hit from Mikaele Pesamino dislodged the ball from his opponent to see his side home.
Samoa advance to the semifinals.
15:09: Fiji v Samoa Fiji score with two minutes remaining.
12-5 to Samoa.
15:08: Fiji v Samoa Fiji lose one man.
Sermaia Burotu is shown a red card after a dangerous tackle on Aiono.
Burotu came off his wing to put a big tackle on Aiono but the Fijian's aggressive lift on his opposite ended in a dangerous position for the ball carrier as he landed on his head.
15:03: Fiji v Samoa Fiji fail to make the mos t of their possesion in the final 90 seconds as they fumble the ball to the sound of the hooter.
12-0 to Samoa at halftime.
14:58: Fiji v Samoa Aiono makes it two tries in two minutes. The Samoan side have woken up after yesterday's lethargic display.
Alafoti Faosaliva makes a bust down the sideline and holds off two defenders before offloading to Aiono who scores in the corner.
Conversion missed. 12-0 to Samoa.
14:58: Fiji v Samoa Afa Aiono throws the dummy and steps back inside the Fijian defence to go in untouched from 30 metres out. Lolo Lui kicks the conversion.
14:52: England v Argentina Argentina had a last chance attack from their own 22 to tie the game but the English defence stood up to the task.
England's Ben Gollings ends the match with a kick for touch after the hooter.
England win 14-7.
14:48: England v Argentina Argentina's Romiro Moyiano scores with three minutes remaining.
Argentina still in this match. Their first real attack in the English 22 pays off.
14-7 to England.
Can they pull off an upset?
14:39: England v Argentina England lead 14-0 at halftime.
A simple 'hands' movement down the backline to Dan Norton puts the speedy winger on the outside of his marker. A simple goose-step puts him clear as he scoots behind the posts to score.
Argentina yet to make any real breakout into the English half.
It's all England in this one. Too big and fast for their opponents.
14:38: Fijian Englishman Isoa Damudamu dots down to score the first try of the finale ight competition.
14:37: The semfinals draw for the Bowl competition has been confirmed Scotland and Kenya will do battle with Tonga to take on the Cook Islands in a Pacific Island battle.
14:25: Veteran Ashley Drake dots down twice in the second half to confirm the win for the Cook Islands 22-10.
The Cooks had plenty of ball in the second stanza and the old heads of Koiatu Koiatu and Drake came to the fore as they dictated play brilliantly.
PNG struck first in the second half. The conversion from in-front went tragically under the crossbar.
Yet that try was the only threat the Pukpuks posed as the Cooks showed plenty of defensive aggression to out muscle them.
England and Argentina will follow in the first Cup quartefinal.
14:14: Cook Island's Duane Kukisuva scored a brace of tries to lead PNG 12-5.
It was the Pukpuks who scored first with their kick and chase game providing the first try. A deft kick into the tryline held up enough for the Pukpuk winger to touch down.
The Cook Islanders struck back in the final two munites with Kukisuva going over in opposite corners.
An entertaining half with both sides having a tendancy to throw the ball around and get their speedsters away down the tramlines.
14:04: Tonga win 21-19.
The French scored a crucial try in the last twenty seconds of the match but the conversion went right of the posts.
Unlucky break for France who foughtback to get within a whisker of their red opponents.
France tied the match with the first try of the second half.
However the Tongans poked their nose in-front through a try to teenager Joseph Lui who touched down under the posts.
Thier second try gave their side a last-gasp hope of pushing the match into extra time for only the conversion to go wide.
13:52: A try after the hooter puts Tonga in-front 14-7 over France.
The opening four minutes of the match was marred with errors as both sides struggled to string passes together and were let down by poor handling.
The French took the initiative crossing for the first try of the match.
However they let in two tries in the last two minutes to see the red army take the lead at the break.
13:43: Tonga will face France in the third Bowl quarterfinal.
13:40: Kenya pull it out of the fire to win 19-14.
Andrew Amonde scoring the match winning try after captialising on a wayward pass from the Canadians.
Amonde was on hand to recieve the pass from a teammate before scampering away to the tryline from 15 metres out.
Canada territorially dominated this match with 90% of play occuring in the Kenyan half before the Kenyans broke out in the last 90 seconds.
A crucial error in their own 22 cost Canada the match in the last 30 seconds of play.
The margin of error in Sevens rugby can kill a side.
Kenya advance to the Bowl semifinals.
13:29: The Kenyan fans are out in full cry despite their side trailing 14-12 against Canada.
Both sides scored two tries apiece however the Kenyans missed a straight-forward conversion from out in-front to trail by two points.
That miss could prove costly for the Kenyans.
13:20: Scotland beat USA 24-7.
A very good game by Scotland in the first Bowl quarterfinal.
The USA weren't able to get their hands on to the ball for long periods of the match.
Scotaland dominated the match and their clinical finishing proved too be the match-winner.
Kenya v Canada to follow.
13:13: Harkness is at it again with the opening try of the second half.
Scotland playing beautiful sevens rugby on day two.
19-0 to Scotland.
Five minutues remaining.
13:10: Scotland go into the break leading 14-0 after tries to Scott Harkness and Andrew Skeen.
Skeen scored on the halftime hooter from 70 metres out.
He was stuck in no-mans land in his half and a dinky chip kick over the American defence put him in the clear before weaving his way past the sweeper to dot down behind the posts.
Great try by the halfback.
12:59: The first match of the day is going to get underway soon with the United States to face Scotland in the Bowl series.
The crowd is slowly making their way into the stadium. Still some way off capacity but this is the tradition on day two.
Expecting the stadium to be half full in approx two hours.
12:48: Today's lineup of matches should provide a relatively easier run to the final for the homeside.
With Fiji and Samoa facing off in the second quarter final it will see one of these sides erased from the final four.
England are the danger team to look for on day two and should get to the Semis with Argentina not playing well in Pool play.
Australia are the dark horses for this tournament with their 29-5 victory over Samoa in their last Pool match a sign of their giant-killing ability.
12:35: The Cup quarterfinal draw looks like this: England will face of against Argentina.
Traditional island neighbours Fiji and Samoa will contest the second match of the final eight.
And Pool C winners Australia and South Africa make up the third cup quarterfinal in what should be a see-saw match between the Tri- Nations rivals.
12:25: Welcome to day two action of the Wellington IRB Sevens at Westpac Stadium.
The New Zealand side were in hot form during day one of play with three impressive victories in pool play.
The crowd favourites started the tournament with a 29-12 victory of Scotland before steamrolling rolling the Shane Howarth coached Papua New Guinea side 45-0.
In the last match of the day the homeside made light work of Argentinia with rookie winger Frank Halai bagging a hattrick of tries in their 34-7 victory.
New Zeland will face Wales in their Cup quarterfinal.
- Herald online
