England left disappointed on Day 2 of Dubai 7s
ENGLAND Sevens captain Tom Mitchell says that the squad have been left feeling “extremely disappointed” after their 2014 Dubai 7s campaign.
England bowed out of the Cup competition after a 29-7 loss to New Zealand, and followed that with a 21-19 defeat against Argentina in the Plate semi-final.
Mitchell said: “We came here with high hopes and a lot of belief – we set ourselves high standards, so obviously we’re extremely disappointed. It’s a tough one to swallow because we’ve actually played some really good rugby this weekend.
“We were down to nine guys today [with injuries to Dan Bibby, James Rodwell and Charlie Hayter] and we’ll take that as a learning curve. Sometimes it doesn’t go your way in Sevens but we’ll regroup and switch our focus on performing well in Port Elizabeth next weekend.”
Head Coach Simon Amor added: “I’m really proud of the effort from the guys, particularly in that last game against Argentina. The game just slipped away from us in the last couple of minutes.
“We’ve suffered with injuries and lost some experienced players this weekend and as a squad we’re stretched to our maximum, but we did some good things and we’ll look to build on those.
“We always have great support in Dubai and it’s a shame we couldn’t deliver for the fans at the stadium, who as ever have been excellent.”
Against Argentina, England got off to a flying start when wing Tom Bowen showed great desire to score, but Argentina came back to take a 7-5 lead. After the buzzer England were back in front – again Bowen showing good pace to touch down.
Phil Burgess then put Amor’s side 19-7 up before two late Argentina tries settled the game at 21-19.
Earlier, England went down 29-7 to New Zealand in the Cup quarter-final. Ambrose Curtis got New Zealand off to a strong start scoring in the corner, but England hit back and went ahead when Christian Lewis-Pratt converted his own try to make it 7-5.
But New Zealand scored two more in the first half to make it 17-7 at the break. And they continued that form into the second seven minutes, scoring two more to make it 29-7.
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