England finish second at the London Sevens
England finished second in the London Sevens after yesterday securing second place in the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series – their highest position since 2006.
South Africa was named series winners in South Africa last weekend on point difference and England overcame the world champions 17-12 in the quarter-final before beating Canada 25-5.
England was however then beaten in the final 12-7 by Scotland who came from behind to retain their title at Twickenham.
Head Coach Simon Amor said: “It was always going to be a close-run game, it always is against Scotland. They took their chances and we couldn’t really get our game going in that second half.
“I’m so delighted with effort of the boys, they’ve been tremendous all weekend. That’s what a team is about, heart, character and resilience but you can’t take anything away from Scotland, they were brilliant.”
Amor added: “I’ve been really pleased with our consistency to always be there or thereabouts this season. To get second is ahead of what we expected. We talked about top three so have gone one better, won three tournaments and also discovered some new young guys which bodes well for the future.”
“It was a difficult moment when Ollie Lindsay-Hague went off early in the final as we were already without playmakers Dan Bibby and Tom Mitchell. The boys however kept on working and fighting – they wanted to show what it meant to them to play for England at Twickenham and I thought they did that in bucket loads.
“Phil Burgess really stepped up as captain in the absence of Mitchell and it’s brilliant for the young guys who played today to have experienced a London sevens tournament. You can see how much they are learning and I’m very excited about the future.
“To get second today and second on the world series makes me very proud. I’m very proud of everyone involved in the London Seven programme.”
After losing Ollie Lindsay-Hague to a head injury early in the first half against Scotland, Dan Norton turned on the style, scoring a sensational try from inside his own half to give England a 5-0 lead which Will Edwards converted.
Richard de Carpentier had a try ruled out by the television match official as England took a 7-0 lead into the break.
Hugh Blake responded immediately after the restart as Scotland levelled the scores with the conversion.
Scotland had the lead through their captain Scott Riddell who barged over in the corner and they held on for victory.
England advanced into the final courtesy of a fine 24-5 victory over Canada in the semi-final.
Lindsay-Hague scored England’s opener with a trademark step and jink through the Canada defence with Will Edwards adding the extras.
Canada came firing back though through Adam Zaruba, however soon after Lindsay-Hague finished off Dan Norton’s break for a 14-5 half-time lead.
Norton extended that lead with just over three minutes remaining as he became the highest points scorer of all time on the HSBC World Rugby sevens series.
Lindsay-Hague added further gloss to the victory with his hat-trick as England sealed the victory.
Earlier two tries from England’s record try-scorer Norton secured a 17-12 victory over South Africa.
Norton opened the scoring early on, showing blistering pace to finish off Phil Burgess’ initial break.
South Africa responded on the stroke of half-time with Chris Dry dotting down under the posts and Branco Du Preez’s conversion gave the Blitzboks a two-point lead.
Werner Kok scored straight from the restart for South Africa before being yellow-carded for a dangerous tackle.
James Rodwell took advantage of an overlap soon after and England were level via Charlie Hayter’s conversion.
And then in injury time, Norton dived over in the corner to seal a dramatic victory.
England: Dan Bibby, Phil Burgess (capt), Alex Davis, Richard de Carpentier, Will Edwards, Harry Glover, Charlie Hayter, Ollie Lindsay-Hague, Ruaridh McConnochie, Callum Sirker, Dan Norton, James Rodwell. 13th man: Will Glover.
(Reporting symptoms of concussion after the second pool game against Australia, Bibby was removed from the squad as a precaution and replaced by thirteenth man Will Glover.)
Day two results:
Cup Final
England 7–12 Scotland
Try: Norton
Conversion: Edwards
Cup Semi-Final
England 24 – 5 Canada
Tries: Lindsay-Hague (3), Norton
Conversions: Edwards (2)
Cup Quarter-Final
England 17-12 South Africa
Tries: Norton (2), Rodwell
Conversion: Hayter
England’s day one Pool results:
England 28 v 7 Spain
Tries: Bibby, McConnochie, Lindsay-Hague, Burgess / Conversions: Bibby (4)
England 19 v 12 Australia
Tries: Burgess, Norton (2) / Conversions: Bibby (2)
England 24 v 19 Samoa
Tries: Burgess, McConnochie, Lindsay-Hague, Davis / Conversions: Edwards, Hayter
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