Some quick thoughts on the Commonwealth Games Sevens tournament thus far:

Kenya 12, Samoa 10 – This is a great upset for the plucky Kenyans, squeaking by the current Sevens World Series champions.  This is what I love about sevens rugby, it’s the old “any given sunday” adage – that while one team looks better on paper, the game is still played on the pitch!  Especially in sevens, where most nations can put together 12 athletes and give them time to practice and really gel together (Pay attention to this USA Rugby, the Olympics are in two years – get these guys together and training NOW) Congratulations to Kenya, you’re moving out of the realm of “rugby minnows” in the world of Sevens!

However, the biggest winner of this game might actually be the Australians…

England 21, Australia 19 – Instead of facing off with Kenya, expected to have lost to Samoa and come in second in their pool, England find themselves meeting Samoa in the quarterfinals.  And Samoa might have something to say about their upset loss to Kenya.  Australia is still a much, much stronger team than Kenya, expect the Aussies to win big over the Kenyans.

New Zealand 46, Scotland 0 – Zero?  Really? Scotland wasn’t able to put any points on the board as they faced the All Blacks?  I expected New Zealand to win, but at least expected more of a show from the Scots.  The Kiwis are a shoe-in for the semis, if not winning the whole enchilada for their fourth Commonwealth Games gold in a row.  This will be a good warm-up for the Sevens World Series.

South Africa 21, Wales 5 – Even the Welshmen were able to put a try on the board in their match, although it was against the Springboks, who are still about a half-a-class below the likes of New Zealand in the sevens game.  Look for South Africa to edge past Scotland in tomorrow’s game, while New Zealand-Wales will probably be more like their match with Scotland, probably a 20-point win.

And as usual, there were a lot of great and entertaining matches among the rugby minnows, which I’ll touch on later.  Tune in tomorrow for more Commonwealth Games musings and bitching from yours truly!