The weekend of 10-11 September 2011 saw the introduction of Rugby Sevens to the Commonwealth Youth Games.
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| Tosha - the CYG2011 mascot |
The fourth Games, held on the Isle of Man, from 8-11 September saw eight nations compete in the sevens tournament, including the very first time that an Isle of Man national side had been selected.
Funding from the Manx Government had been secured, to renovate the Bowl Stadium in Douglas, a part of the National Sports Centre in the town.
The newly refurbished stadium has a full 3G synthetic surface, which has been approved for use in rugby by the IRB, and also the footballing governing bodies, with the Bowl Stadium home to the Isle of Man FA.
The tournament was covered on Manx Radio as part of their status as Official Games Station, providing full coverage of the IOM Commonwealth Youth Games.
I would like to thank all at Manx Radio for their support and encouragement while I was there, on my first live broadcasting job. Here is my round up of the tournament, with all the results.
I would like to thank all at Manx Radio for their support and encouragement while I was there, on my first live broadcasting job. Here is my round up of the tournament, with all the results.
Tournament Format
Two groups of four teams were drawn to play each other in a round robin format, with all sides playing three games each day.
All sides would play a quarter final fixture, with the winners progressing to the Gold medal semi finals, and losers to the Bowl/Plate semi finals. The losers of the Gold medal semis would play for the Bronze medal, and the losers of the Bowl/Plate semi finals would play for the Bowl Final, and the winners, the Plate final.
Pool A
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| Isle of Man v Scotland |
The first fixture of the competition was a major milestone for Manx rugby, with the Isle of Man competing as a national side for the first time at any level. Their fixture against Scotland ended in defeat by 43-5, although Liam Murphy would have his name in island history as the first try scorer for the Isle of Man.
Australia beat Canada by 31-0, and with both underdogs having taken heavy beatings, the second round of fixtures saw the Canadians almost upsetting the formbook with a one point defeat, by 15-14 to Scotland, while at Australians beat the hosts by a more comfortable 47-0. Scotland had made it hard for themselves, having taken a 15-0 lead, letting the Canadians come back at them, and just holding out for the victory.
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| Australia v Canada |
The final round of matches in the pool was simply a case of fighting for positions, leading into the quarter finals. The Isle of man, perhaps fancying to do something against Canada, just didn't have it in them, and lost out by 50-0, while the Australians were too good for the Scots, winning by 19-5, and taking first place in Pool A.
Pool B
With two minnows of world rugby up against two giants, this pool was also to see some heavy defeats for the underdogs.
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| England v Sri Lanka |
South Africa started the ball rolling, with ten tries in a 62-0 rout of Sri Lanka, before England put Trinidad & Tobago to the sword, with nine tries in a 53-0 victory.
The Springboks equalled their first scoreline, with ten tries against Trinidad & Tobago (62-0), with England also putting ten past the Sri Lankans in their 64-0 win.
Again, the last round of pool fixtures saw tight fixtures to sort out the quarter final places. First up, it was the battle between England and South Africa, with the English winners by 7-5; a 7-0 half-time lead being defended until the final hooter, when the Springboks scored, but they couldn't convert from a difficult angle.
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| South Africa v Trinidad & Tobago |
The Sri Lankans beat Trinidad & Tobago by 17-5, despite going behind to the Carribean side.
The tight finish to the England v South Africa match had led to both sides being seen as favourites to progress to the final match.
Quarter Finals
The first of these saw Australia put Trinidad & Tobago to the sword by 53-0, before the home side played an England team who had every player in the squad signed up to Premiership Academy sides, and most of whom had played A League reserve team fixtures for their team.
The home crowd were firmly behind their team, as the English were camped in their own half for a full two minutes, before they managed to gain any territory against the Manx men. Despite the territory gained, the islanders just couldn't get any advantage against their opponents, with some ferocious defending keeping them at bay. Quality soon prevailed, and England went through with a 52-0 scoreline, but not without the home side getting the crowd cheering with some stout tackling.
Scotland won easily enough against Sri Lanka, by 47-0, before Canada lost out 24-12 to South Africa. The Springboks had led by 19-0 at half time, and shipped two tries in the second half, although the strong Canadians just couldn't come back at them in time.
Semi Finals
The Isle of Man's quarter final defeat had led to a Bowl/Plate semi final match against Sri Lanka, a fixture that Mike Dee, the IoM manager had thought would be "interesting"! It certainly ended up that way, with a very first historic Manx win, by 26-15. This match certainly had the crowd on their feet, with Andy Evans scoring two tries and Alex Murphy one by half time. The breathing space of two conversions from those tries was needed going into the second half, as the Sri Lankans came back with three tries of their own, before Dan Bonwick put down between the posts and converted for a fantastic result.
The strong side from Canada hammered Trinidad & Tobago by 60-7 in the other Bowl/Plate semi final, setting up a Bowl Final of Sri Lanka v Trinidad & Tobago and a Plate Final of Canada v Isle of Man.
The Gold Medal semi finals set up and 'Auld Enemy' clash followed by a battle of the southern hemisphere giants.
England proved too strong against Scotland, winning by 19-5, while the South Africans beat Australia by 26-21 in the match of the tournament so far. Lewis Holland had set the ball rolling for the Australians, before South Africa came back, to lead by 21-7 at half time. Australia came back, equalising through a converted Alex Northam try, with kicker Waldo Wessells continuing his excellent record throughout the tournament. The winning try though, came from Burger Odendal right at the death.
That result set up an intriguing rematch of England v South Africa for the Gold Medal. Would the final be as tight as the group game, which had been settled by a missed conversion?
Bowl Final
The Carribeans from Trinidad & Tobago lost out to Sri Lanka by 24-12 in a match where the Asian side were ahead throughout. The T&T team appeared to be too keen to use their feet when the ball was loose, and never really got to grips with the game.
Plate Final
This was the one which the local support were wanting to see, but the big Canadian side outmuscled the IoM team by 8 tries to none, securing the Plate Final by a score of 52-0. While it was a big disappointment for the home team, their manager Mike Dee had been pragmatic about their chances in the tournament beforehand, so to finish sixth out of eight was a big achievement for the squad.
Bronze Medal Final
A re-run of the earlier group game saw the Scots give the Australians a huge fright, leading the game going into the final minute, but a Will Miller try secured the Bronze medal for Australia, with a 15-12 scoreline.
Gold Medal Final
England took the honours against the Springboks once more, but with a 21 point margin after the 20 minute final match. Helped by a Jack Arnott hat-trick, they took the game by the scruff of the neck, with a 19-12 half-time lead, and never looked back throughout the second half. The final result of 40-21 looked harsh on the Springboks who made this into a final worthy of the name, and went home as Silver Medallists.
Full Results
Pool A
Scotland 43 - 5 Isle of Man
Australia 31 - 0 Canada
Scotland 15 - 14 Canada
Australia 47 - 0 Isle of Man
Canada 50 - 0 Isle of Man
Scotland 5 - 19 Australia
Pool B
South Africa 62 - 0 Sri Lanka
England 53 - 0 Trinidad & Tobago
England 64 - 0 Sri Lanka
South Africa 62 - 0 Trinidad & Tobago
South Africa 5 - 7 England
Trinidad & Tobago 5 - 17 Sri Lanka
Quarter Finals
Australia 53 - 0 Trinidad & Tobago
Isle of Man 0 - 52 England
Scotland 47 - 0 Sri Lanka
Canada 12 - 24 South Africa
Semi Finals
Plate & Bowl
Isle of Man 26 - 15 Sri Lanka
Trinidad & Tobago 7 - 60 Canada
Gold & Bronze
Australia 21 - 26 South Africa
England 19 - 5 Scotland
Finals
Bowl - Sri Lanka 24 - 12 Trinidad & Tobago
Plate - Isle of Man 0 - 52 Canada
Bronze Medal - Australia 15 - 12 Scotland
Gold Medal - South Africa 20 - 41 England
* All photographs courtesy www.cyg2011.com
