The Semi Finals in Dubai under gathering black clouds, showed the difference between the top teams and the pretenders. France competed with Samoa in the first half but could not build and in the second period Samoa took a grip on the game with France forcing the last play in gifting Samoa the final try to go down 5-12.
The New Zealand Kenya was all together more one sided as Kenya worked hard but could not breakdown the solid Kiwi defence. Thanks to the pressure the Blacks turned over possession and converted their pressure to points.
In the minor semis, England did for Australia the first glimpse of what they can do when Norton is given space. England now face Spain in the Shield final after they piped Russia.
The Bowl semi is between South Africa who beat the USA and Argentina who were to strong for Scotland.
The Plate final is Wales versus Canada, Wales turning over a very out of sorts Fiji and Canada proving to strong for Portugal.
Results Semi Finals
33 01 Dec 12:20 Spain 26-24 Russia SF Shield
34 01 Dec 12:42 Australia 12-40 England SF Shield
35 01 Dec 13:06 United States 14-22 South Africa SF Bowl
36 01 Dec 13:28 Scotland 5-12 Argentina SF Bowl
37 01 Dec 13:50 Fiji 5-27 Wales SF Plate
38 01 Dec 14:12 Canada 28-12 Portugal SF Plate
39 01 Dec 17:07 France 5-12 Samoa SF Cup
40 01 Dec 17:29 Kenya 7-27 New Zealand SF Cup
Fixtures Finals
Check out our picks in bold:
All times Local, UK less 3 hours
41 01 Dec 17:54 Spain v England Final Shield
42 01 Dec 18:24 South Africa v Argentina Final Bowl
43 01 Dec 18:54 Wales v Canada Final Plate
44 01 Dec 20:01 France v Kenya Third Place
45 01 Dec 20:33 Samoa v New Zealand Final Cup
Women’s Competition is also running at the same time and here are the results for the Semi Finals:
25 01 Dec 12:52 Canada 24-0 England SF Plate
26 01 Dec 13:14 Netherlands 5-21 Russia SF Plate
27 01 Dec 14:04 Brazil 17-19 China
28 01 Dec 14:36 Australia 14-28 New Zealand SF Cup
29 01 Dec 14:58 South Africa 19-17 Spain SF Cup
Fixtures Finals Womens
31 01 Dec 16:15 France v United States Final Bowl
32 01 Dec 16:45 Canada v Russia Final Plate
33 01 Dec 17:15 Australia v Spain
34 01 Dec 19:26 New Zealand v South Africa Final Cup