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ENGLAND SEVENS BEATEN BY NEW ZEALAND IN FIFTH PLACE SEMI-FINAL

Jan 28 • General News, Sevens Rugby • 1740 Views • Comments Off on ENGLAND SEVENS BEATEN BY NEW ZEALAND IN FIFTH PLACE SEMI-FINAL

England Sevens were beaten by New Zealand in the fifth place semi-final at the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series in Sydney as their tournament came to an end.

After finishing second in Pool C played over the first two days of competition, England lost 0-10 to Argentina in the Cup quarter-final and although they held the lead at the break, went down 5-10 to the All Blacks.

The results mean England finish joint seventh with Kenya for their efforts in Sydney and take 10 points towards their World Series ranking ahead of Hamilton next weekend.

A superb defensive effort from Tom Mitchell kept New Zealand out early on as he got his hands under the ball as the opposition thought they had scored, and the captain was at it again a few minutes later as his last ditch tackle in the corner caused a knock-on.

In their first real foray into New Zealand’s half, Ethan Waddleton burrowed under a couple of tackles out wide for what turned out to be the only score in the first seven minutes.

England’s defence was finally breached as Luke Marisewa dotted down and Joe Ravouvou showed pace around the outside as the All Blacks secured the lead for the first time.

With time dead, England threw wave after wave of attacks at New Zealand but the men in black held out to face Fiji to decide who will finish fifth in Sydney.

England started the day without Dan Bibby after he was cited for a clear out against South Africa and they were behind inside the first minute against Argentina as Conrado Roura broke through.

Clever footwork put Lautaro Bazan Velez in for a second score as England could not find any rhythm and were 0-10 down at the break.

The match turned into a scrappy affair in the second-half as neither side seemed able to generate any momentum to put pressure on the opposition’s try line.

Simon Amor made a number of replacements, but despite a brave rally in the closing stages, England exited the Cup competition and were to take on New Zealand in the fifth place semi-finals.

“It’s obviously disappointing to once again be on the wrong end of some really close score lines,” said England Sevens head coach Simon Amor.

“The boys worked very hard and we were defending brilliantly on this last day against some great teams, but our attacking game is just not quite clicking at the moment.

“It was frustrating losing Alex Davis at the start of the tournament through injury and we really feel for him, as well as losing Dan Bibby for day three – but he’ll be back and available for us again in Hamilton.”

The tournament took place over three days and England got off to a solid start with a 22-10 win over Spain in the only game of day one, with Alex Davis scoring twice on his return from injury.

However, that was his last involvement because of an ankle injury as Ryan Olowofela came in for his World Series debut and he featured on day two as England beat Papua New Guinea 35-5 but then went down 12-33 to world champions South Africa.

Looking ahead to the HSBC Hamilton Sevens on 3-4 February, Amor added: “A three-day event is pretty gruelling for all the teams involved here so rest and recovery over the next few days is going to be really important as well as looking to make some improvements in our attacking game going into next weekend.”

 

England Sevens squad for Sydney:

Dan Bibby

Tom Bowen

Phil Burgess

Richard de Carpentier

Mike Ellery (Saracens)

Ruaridh McConnochie

Tom Mitchell ©

Ollie Lindsay-Hague

Dan Norton

Ryan Olowofela

James Rodwell

Ethan Waddleton

 

England’s fixtures:

Pool C – England 22-10 Spain

Tries: Davis (2), Mitchell, McConnochie

Pool C – England 35-5 Papua New Guinea

Tries: Mitchell (2), Bibby, de Carpentier, Norton  

Pool C – England 12-33 South Africa

Tries: Lindsay-Hague, Bibby

 

Cup quarter-final – England 0-10 Argentina  

Fifth place semi-final – England 5-10 New Zealand

Tries: Waddleton

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