Marauders and Spoons lift titles at Dubai Rugby Sevens

from Gulfnews.com:

Dubai: International Marauders and Wooden Spoon Blues raised their game in time to pocket the International Invitational and International Overseas men’s titles, respectively, on the final evening of the Dubai Rugby Sevens on Saturday.

The Marauders, who showed they were made of sterner stuff even during the group games, staved off the challenge from holders Sporting Chance Foundation 33-20 to win the Invitational title.

Earlier on, Wooden Spoon Blues had to survive a few anxious moments before beating Pyrenees 7s 19-15 for the Overseas honours.

Overshadowed as they are by the ‘real’ event, the finalists in both categories threw up some players of quality capable of quite strong runs.

In the Overseas final, it was the men from Pyrenees in south-west France who took the lead with an early try. Wooden Spoon bounced back strongly with two tries and were leading 12-5 at halftime. Back after the break, they made it 19-5 and with the minutes ticking away, it looked like curtains for the Pyrenees 7s.

However, the latter rallied back and were only a try away from squaring things when the buzzer went off.

Earlier, the last four clashes in the Overseas section were more of a one-way traffic with the eventual winners beating Navy Sharks 31-12 and the Pyrenees 7s ending the gallant run of Moscow Region 22-7.

The semifinals of the Invitational event were, on the contrary, close affairs with Sporting Chance beating the supremely fit New Zealand Legends 17-12 and the Marauders getting past HFW Wailers 29-17.

French whitewash

Meanwhile, the French women’s Sevens team showed they were a cut above the rest as they left Wooden Spoons Rugby shellshocked 19-0 to win the International Invitational Women’s crown at the Sevens.

Cheered on by a supportive crowd, which had gathered for the night’s showpiece later in the evening, the blue-shirted women’s team took control from the word go and were leading 12-0 at halftime.

Just a few minutes before the break, the Wooden Spooners got a chance to reduce the margin with some good approach work but fumbled with the ball at the last minute.

Runners-up here last time, the Wooden Spooners tried to come back in patches in the second half but were kept at bay by a resolute French defence.