A wild first day of World Sevens Series action in Dubai concluded with a bizarre final session as some of the heavyweights of the abridged format went out – while South Africa clung on to the chance of retaining their crown.
In the penultimate match on the main field at The Sevens, Argentina kicked the ball deep into the crowd beyond their own in-goal and started celebrating - despite being seven points down to Fiji as the final whistle blew.
Happily for them, the South American side are good at arithmetic. The 17-12 loss left Argentina, New Zealand and Fiji all tied on seven points at the top of Pool B.
Argentina, though, topped the group as they held a seven-point buffer over third-placed Fiji – hence their keenness to retrieve possession, and, with time up, kick the ball dead.
It means the Argentines advance to Saturday’s quarter-finals, where they will play Ireland at 10.28am, while the two-time Olympic champion Fijians exited the top-tier tournament.
For the first time in the history of men’s World Series matches at The Sevens, matches were also played on Pitch 2.
The last match on that Pitch reached just as dramatic a finish as the Argentina-Fiji game. Great Britain had come back to 14-14 after trailing Kenya by two scores at the break, but appeared to have lost as Kenya celebrated a final-play try.
It was ruled out, though, meaning Kenya – whose players have been without pay for three months – finished last in the group.
Great Britain’s players raced across the divide between the two show-pitches to see the final minutes of the last game, between Australia and South Africa.
They reached just in time to see the holders close out a 19-12 win – which was a narrow enough margin to take both sides through, and send GB out.
Australia will play United States in the second of the quarter-finals, at 10.50am. That will be followed by France against New Zealand, and then South Africa against Samoa.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
RESULTS
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Pakistan squad
Sarfraz (c), Zaman, Imam, Masood, Azam, Malik, Asif, Sohail, Shadab, Nawaz, Ashraf, Hasan, Amir, Junaid, Shinwari and Afridi
