WEEKLY SPORTS DIGEST: Fiji's sevens strength, Phoenix win

WEEKLY SPORTS DIGEST: Fiji too strong in sevens, Phoenix makes playoffs

14/02/11 Executive sport summary– An overview of the major sporting events – Results, key moments and talking points – Everything you need to know to foot it at the water cooler this week.

By Jonathan McKeown

LAS VEGAS SEVENS: Slumbering powerhouse Fiji awoke to beat defending champions New Zealand 26-7 in the semi-finals. New Zealand beat Argentina 47-7 in their quarter-final after three easy pool wins.

Led by Lote Raikanbula, New Zealand’s team rolled Uruguay 40-nil, before downing Kenya 25-10 and cruising past Wales 26-5. South Africa beat England 17-10 in the second semi-final to book a place against Fiji.

A-LEAGUE: Wellington Phoenix claimed the last finals spot with a 3-1 win over North Queensland Fury. The regular season is over as the top six move into the post-season finals. Wellington have made an unprecedented second straight finals round. The only New Zealand football franchise to do so, perhaps they are in line for a Halberg Award.

First-half goals to Chris Greenacre and Dylan Macallister sealed the win and sixth spot on the ladder while Adelaide United secured third position after defeating fifth placed Melbourne Victory 2-1. Clear frontrunners Brisbane Roar sent a warning by stunning fourth-placed Gold Coast 4-0.

SIX NATIONS: Wales have broken their drought after eight games and almost a year without victory. Wales got that winning feeling back with a two try, 24-6 victory over Scotland. England thrashed Italy 59-13 at Twickenham to maintain their unbeaten start. England winger Chris Ashton continued his irrepressible form scoring four tries.

In the final game of the round defending champions France came back from a half-time deficit to beat Ireland 25-22 in Dublin.

GOLF: Spain's Alvaro Quiros got through a turbulent final round to win the Dubai Desert Golf Classic. Quiros started the day alongside Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia in a seven-way tie for fourth place. The 28-year-old clinched victory after an eagle-two, a triple-bogey seven and a hole-in-one.

Woods struggled on the final day with bogeys at two and three giving him a miserable start. Birdies at the 6th and 11th offered hope but the former No.1 dropped shots to finish on 75 at four under.

TENNIS: New world number one Kim Clijsters has lost in the Paris Open final. Clijsters secured her new rank by reaching the semi-finals at the Stade Coubertin. But the ranking meant nothing as the Australian Open champion fell to Czech fourth seed Petra Kvitova 6-4 6-3.

Swede Robin Soderling retained his World Indoor tennis title in Rotterdam. Soderling outplayed Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3 3-6 6-3 in the final with consistency outpointing pure power as Tsonga rattled down 20 aces.

V8 SUPERCARS: The V8 Supercars Championship Series got underway at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. Jamie Whincup has continued his overseas winning streak with an emphatic win in Race 1. Reigning V8 Supercar champion James Courtney took out Race 2 of the Yas V8 400 although Jamie Whincup still leads the championship on 279 points from Alex Davison 234. After good finishes in both races Kiwi Shane van Gisbergen is in third on 210 points.

WRC: The new World Rally Car era began in Scandinavia with Rally Sweden. Mikko Hirvonen got his 2011 World Rally Championship campaign off to a dream start as he handled the snow and ice for his second successive victory in Sweden. Only 15 seconds separated five drivers on the final day of the Karlstad-based snow rally but world champion Sebastien Loeb finished a distant sixth following a series of delays.

PREMIER LEAGUE: Tottenham Hotspur came from behind to defeat Sunderland 2-1 in the latest round as Liverpool's revival was stalled against Wigan Athletic who earned a 1-1 draw at Anfield. West Bromwich Albion and West Ham United played out an entertaining 3-3 draw and Robin Van Persie struck twice as Arsenal secured a 2-0 home victory over Wolves.

But the best goal this season had to be Wayne Rooney's effort in the Manchester Darby. Wayne Rooney's stunning overhead goal gave Manchester United a 2-1 victory over Manchester City.

RUGBY LEAGUE: The Indigenous All Stars and the NRL All Stars clashed at Skilled Park. After suffering a 16-12 loss in the inaugural clash last year the NRL boys wanted payback andraced out to a 22-6 half-time lead with four quick tries.

Jonathan Thurston sparked an Indigenous recovery with a chip kick for Ben Barba to score but it wasn’t enough as Wayne Bennett's NRL All Stars squared the ledger with a 28-12 victory on the Gold Coast.

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