Wales go into tomorrow's (Saturday) knock-out stages of the IRB Sevens series in Wellington in confident mood after stunning pre-tournament favourites New Zealand in their opening pool fixture at the Westpac Stadium.
The hosts were expected to brush aside Wales but the men in red caused one of the shocks of the season with a stunning 28-17 victory to severely dent the Kiwis hopes of retaining their title.
Wales manager Dai Jenkins was delighted that his side had finally broken the hoodoo against one of the giants of the abbreviated game to set up a quarter-final showdown against the Kenyans.
"It's the first time we have ever beaten New Zealand so that's a fantastic result for us," he said.
Wales had been boosted for this tournament with the Dragons’ Aled Brew joining Lee Beach and Dafydd Hewitt to add considerable strength and depth to the squad.
"We've grown as a team over the past couple of seasons but you can't replace experience," he added. "We also had two youngsters in the team in Rhys Webb and Tom Isaacs and they will learn from the experience of beating one of the best teams ever to have played the game. We're developing youngsters and it's a measure of our success that half of our players (eight out of 16) have gone on to play full international rugby.
Wales Sevens squad for Wellington and San Diego: (Forwards): Lee Beach (capt, Neath), Josh Turnbull (Scarlets), Craig Hill (Newport), James Merriman (Neath), Dafydd Hewitt, Chris Davies (Aberavon).
(Backs): Lee Williams (Scarlets), Rhys Webb (Ospreys), Aled Thomas (London Welsh), Tal Selley (Dragons), Rhodri McAtee (Cornish Pirates), Tom Isaacs (Newport / Dragons), Aled Brew (Dragons),
The hosts were expected to brush aside Wales but the men in red caused one of the shocks of the season with a stunning 28-17 victory to severely dent the Kiwis hopes of retaining their title.
Wales manager Dai Jenkins was delighted that his side had finally broken the hoodoo against one of the giants of the abbreviated game to set up a quarter-final showdown against the Kenyans.
"It's the first time we have ever beaten New Zealand so that's a fantastic result for us," he said.
Wales had been boosted for this tournament with the Dragons’ Aled Brew joining Lee Beach and Dafydd Hewitt to add considerable strength and depth to the squad.
"We've grown as a team over the past couple of seasons but you can't replace experience," he added. "We also had two youngsters in the team in Rhys Webb and Tom Isaacs and they will learn from the experience of beating one of the best teams ever to have played the game. We're developing youngsters and it's a measure of our success that half of our players (eight out of 16) have gone on to play full international rugby.
Wales Sevens squad for Wellington and San Diego: (Forwards): Lee Beach (capt, Neath), Josh Turnbull (Scarlets), Craig Hill (Newport), James Merriman (Neath), Dafydd Hewitt, Chris Davies (Aberavon).
(Backs): Lee Williams (Scarlets), Rhys Webb (Ospreys), Aled Thomas (London Welsh), Tal Selley (Dragons), Rhodri McAtee (Cornish Pirates), Tom Isaacs (Newport / Dragons), Aled Brew (Dragons),
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