England Sevens to face Australia in Challenge Trophy quarter-final in Hong Kong

Apr 7 • General News, Sevens Rugby • 1257 Views • Comments Off on England Sevens to face Australia in Challenge Trophy quarter-final in Hong Kong

England Sevens will face Australia in the Challenge Trophy quarter-final at the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series in Hong Kong tomorrow after finishing third in Pool C.

In their first pool fixture against Scotland on Friday, England narrowly lost 19-22 with tries from Ben Howard, Ryan Olowofela and Callum Sirker.

They followed this up with a seven try, 47-7 win over South Korea on day two of the tournament, but ended with a 33-15 defeat to South Africa in their final pool game.

The side, led by England Sevens assistant coach Tony Roques, will now face Australia in the Challenge Trophy quarter-final at 02:52 on Sunday 8 April, broadcast on Sky Sports Action.

Scotland opened the scoring in England’s first match with a fifth-minute converted try from George Horne. England bounced back with Ben Howard showing good pace to take the side to within two points. But Horne had a second with the clock red, sniping through for a 12-5 half time lead.

England started the second half brightly as Ryan Olowofela’s score, which Edwards converted, levelled the game. Jamie Farndale restored Scotland’s lead, before Callum Sirker’s late length-of-the-pitch try, and Edwards’ conversion gave England the lead for the first time in the game. However, Lee Jones won it for Scotland with the clock again red, scoring in the corner to seal victory.

England kicked off day two against South Korea. Ben Howard raced in directly off captain Will Edwards’ kick-off to immediately open the scoring. Ryan Olowofela got England’s second of the match and his second of the tournament shortly after.

Further tries from Will Wilson and Alex Davis, with Edwards converting all four, saw England lead 28-0 at the break.

South Korea scoring directly from the kick-off after the break thanks to Jeongmin Jang, but Alex Davis’ second plus Charlton Kerr’s put England beyond reach. Then with 17 seconds left on the clock Will Glover scored his first try on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series to finish the win.

England headed into their final pool match knowing they needed to beat South Africa by seven points to take second place in pool C.

Alex Davis had an early try inside 30 seconds. Stedman Gans replied for South Africa before Will Wilson took advantage of Charlie Hayter’s fine offload to score a second for England.

Selvyn Davids’ try and the resulting conversion gave the Blitzboks a 14-10 half-time lead, but Will Edwards found space to cross for England’s third try shortly after the break.

Davids had a second in the corner before Davis was sin binned for a high tackle and late tries for Mfundo Ndhlovu and Gans sealed victory for South Africa.

England Sevens assistant coach Tony Roques said: “I’m massively proud of the effort and attitude from the whole squad so far this weekend. They have shown real professionalism and done the shirt proud.

“We knew South Africa was a must-win game and so we put big emphasis on going out and being physical, not sitting back and trying to win the game. We started off excellently with the try straight from the kick-off, but it just didn’t quite happen and we left a few opportunities out there which I know the players are frustrated about.”

Looking ahead to day three of the tournament, Roques added: “We’ll be focusing on our mantra we’ve set this week of growing every day. We’ve improved as a team throughout the weekend and want Sunday to be our biggest day. We want to take all the bits of our game that we’re happy with and put them together into a full performance for that quarter-final tomorrow.”

England Sevens squad for Hong Kong:
George Chatterton
Alex Davis
Will Edwards ©
Will Glover (Newcastle University)
Charlie Hayter
Ben Howard (Worcester Warriors)
Charlton Kerr
Charlie Kingham (Loughborough University)
Ryan Olowofela
Callum Sirker
Charlie Spawforth
Will Wilson (Oxford University)

13th man: Fergus Guiry

England’s Pool C fixtures (all in BST). Tournament shown live on Sky Sports.

England 19 – 22 Scotland
Tries: Howard, Olowofela, Sirker

England 47 – 7 South Korea
Tries: Howard, Olowofela, Wilson, Davis (2), Kerr, Glover

England 15 – 33 South Africa
Tries: Davis, Wilson, Edwards

Challenge Trophy quarter-final, Sunday 8 April, live on Sky Sports Action
England v Australia 02:52