New Delhi:
The capacity crowd at the Delhi University ground vociferously cheered for the home team but that did not prove sufficient as Indian ruggers lost all three encounters of the day against their higher ranked opponents to bow out of medal contention in the Commonwealth Games Rugby Sevens event here on Monday.
The Men in Blue failed to put up a decent fight against reigning World Cup Sevens champion Wales, world ranked sixth South Africa and next season's World Series qualifier Tongo in the Group-B engagements.
India will now play against Canada on Tuesday in the 'Bowl' Division for the 9th-16 position finish after being relegated to the bottom of the group.
In the Rugby Sevens competition, besides the three major medals at stake, two other competitions -- Bowl Division and Plate Division (5th-8th place) -- also take place to come out with the team standings.
In the opening game, India were no match to the 2009 World Cup champions Wales and lost 7-56. Amit Lochab scored India's only try four minutes into the first half while Wales crossed four times to lead 28-7 at the break.
Wales' Tom Prydie and Lee Williams each bagged a brace of tries and Gareth Davies scored a try and kicked six conversions in the first round Pool-B clash.
Ranked near the bottom among rugby sevens playing nations, the Indian team are rank outsiders at a top class field in the Games here but the home squad is contesting to prove that they can compete at the highest level.
"We still need to work out on some areas of our play. Despite our standing in the world rankings, we played well and confidently against some of the more fancied opponents. One has to understand, we are competing here to gain valauable experience. It would still take some time before winning any medal," said Indian skipper Nasser Hussain.
Indian team member Lochab, when asked about his experience of playing against world champs Wales, said, "It was fantastic and an amazing moment. It was hard to defend because of less players (overlaps). I am proud of the guys in attack."
"It was a good start but we should have scored a few more tries. It was an ideal playing surface," added Lochab.
Williams of Wales team said "They (India) are a developing rugby nation and in a few years they will be up there. We need to start respecting the lesser teams a bit more."
In the other match, the South African team showed its class and level of play to secure a fluent 59-0 victory over hosts India.
The Springbok Sevens team is yet to concede a point after two matches at the Commonwealth Games. The South Africans opened their pool fixtures with a solid 27-0 win over a tenacious Tonga.
A victory over World Cup holders Wales will see the Springbok Sevens advance to the knock-out phase as pool winners.
Sharks call-up Sibusiso Sithole was one of the team?s standout performers against India, scoring three tries in the match. Team-mate Renfred Dazel also came up with equal number of tries.
After the lemon-break, the South African side reduced the Indian team to a mere spectator scoring four more tries and crossing the line on three occasions to finish the issue on 59-0 scoreline.
The pace generated by the African side was such that Indian ruggers did not get even a single chance to score a try.
The team, making their debut at a Commonwealth Games, know they have plenty to improve, but were making the most of their moment in the two-day event.
Indian captain Nasser Hussain was pleased to finally be underway.
"It was fantastic to hear the cheers from the crowd supporting us even when we were down. We need to work on our defence, by committing a couple of people in the tackle left us short out wide. Overall we took it to them and I am so proud of the guys," Hussain said.
In their last fixture against Tonga, team did come out with a positive mindset but that was not enough to secure a win.
In the first half, Tonga scored three tries out of which two were converted by Fokolulu Taumalolo. After the break, Indian skipper Hussain opened the scoring for India with a fluent try and then made some quick moves but that did not prove enough as Taumalolo came out with back-to-back tries within a minute to put the issue beyond control.
"We will be up against Canada tomorrow in the Bowl Division and we have to raise our level of game a bit to at least get a finish in Top-10. Against Tonga, we played well and came out with some good show. Our confidence has risen and that showed," said Hussain.
Meanwhile, the event which started today saw some of the world's most formidable teams in action including three times Commonwealth Gold medallists 'All Black' New Zealand, Melbourne edition runners up England, Australia and Samoa.
The favourites all recorded big wins in both the session of the Sevens event.
The Commonwealth Games champion New Zealand made their Delhi medal intentions clear from the first minute, defeating Canada 43-7 and Guyana 52-0 respectively. England thrashed Sri Lanka 59-7 while Australia blanked Uganda 33-0 and Samoa came out victorious against Papua New Guinea 38-17.
Samoa piled on nine tries to defeat Malaysia 61-0 and Australia came out victorious against Sri Lanka 42-5.
The closest match to date saw Scotland hold off Canada 19-17. Papua New Guinea also pushed Kenya close before coming up short 12-17.