England Sevens finish fifth in Las Vegas
Charlton Kerr scored a dramatic stoppage-time try on his HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series debut to help England earn fifth place in Las Vegas.
Kerr’s try sealed a 10-7 victory over Australia after an earlier win over Canada had sent them into the fifth-place final.
Tom Bowen scored early for England with his pace too much for Australia, but Lachie Anderson then produced a fine offload for Nick Malouf to level the score as Tom Lucas converted for 7-5 at the break.
Kerr, 19, came on for his World Series debut in the last minute and after Dan Norton had collected his own punt forward, drawing in the defence, he off-loaded to the teenager to dot down for the winning score.
“It’s incredible, being the 13th man you just wait for your opportunity,” said Kerr, who played due to the absence of injured Ollie Lindsay-Hague.
“I didn’t really do much, it was all Norton showing his experience and I was just on the end of it. It’s such a great squad with great people.”
Earlier, Simon Amor’s side defeated Canada 12-5 to advance through to the fifth-place final, having lost their Cup quarter-final to New Zealand.
They led 12-0 at the break after Bowen sped through and stepped inside to feed Tom Mitchell who scored under the posts, also converting his own try.
Richard de Carpentier then went over in the corner after shrugging off Nathan Hirayama’s tackle for a comfortable lead at half-time.
Harry Jones gave Canada a lifeline with a try shortly after the restart but England held on for victory.
Amor’s men were beaten 19-0 by New Zealand in the quarter-finals at the start of the day. Trailing 7-0 at the break through DJ Forbes’ try, a brace from Tim Mikkelson sealed the victory for New Zealand.
England had won all of their pool games defeating the United States in dramatic style after previously beating Chile and Samoa.
They topped Pool B by bouncing back against hosts United States 24-17 after being down 12-5 at the break.
England is third in the World Series standings behind Las Vegas’ winners South Africa and finalists Fiji.
England Sevens squad for Las Vegas:
Dan Bibby, Tom Bowen, Phil Burgess, Alex Davis, Richard de Carpentier, Ollie Lindsay-Hague, Charlie Hayter, Ruaridh McConnochie, Tom Mitchell ©, Dan Norton, James Rodwell, Ethan Waddleton. (13th man – Charlton Kerr).
England Results:
5th Place Play-Off
England 10-7 Australia
Tries: Bowen, Kerr
5th Place Semi-Final
Canada 5- 12 England
Tries: Mitchell, de Carpentier
Conversions: Mitchell
Cup Quarter-Final: England 0 -19 New Zealand
England’s pool B results:
England 24 – 17 USA
Tries: Norton, de Carpentier, Mitchell, Bowen. Conversions: Mitchell (2)
England 12 – 7 Samoa
Tries: Bibby, Norton. Conversion: Mitchell
England 31-5 Chile
Tries: Bowen, Hayter, Norton (2), de Carpentier. Conversions: Bibby (3)
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