Korea hold their title at Shanghai Sevens

Korea hold their title at Shanghai Sevens

A brilliant display by Shanghai and especially captain Kim, Won-young whose buzzing presence and constant sniping marked him out as player of the tournament.

Korea beat China in the final by 38-24, a score at the final whistle making things look a lot more comfortable than they had for the last five minutes. The second half in the final was probably the only time the Koreans had been under serious pressure for the whole tournament and it showed as they made poor decisions (such as kicking penalties dead or into touch) as they tried to use up time. China played very well, deserved finalists and while they got too far adrift in the first half of the final, they came back strongly in the second and showed the form that had taken them past the other favourites, Hong Kong.

In the earlier rounds, Korea cruised through the group stages and quarter finals but must have been concerned to come up against Japan in the semis. They needn’t have been as they trounced their erstwhile main rivals by a huge margin. Quite simply, Japan were never in it which let Korea turn on the style and show boat, once again never letting the ball die and making outrageous passes even when over the try line….it was more than rubbing it in….so watch out at the next event!