ENGLAND DEFEAT FIJI AND PROGRESS TO CUP SEMI-FINAL HSBC PARIS SEVENS
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Loading...England started the second day of the HSBC Paris Sevens strongly with a 19-17 win against Fiji in the Cup quarter-final.
An early England knock-on handed Fiji the ball and Eroni put the first points on the board, showing his pace and power to break through.
England responded as Ollie Lindsay-Hague skipped around the defenders before Kalione Nasoko was penalised for hands in the ruck, giving England the opportunity to take it wide from the tap-and-go for Harry Glover to score in the corner.
Fiji had the lead at half-time after Jerry Tuwai fought through two tackles and set his team up inside the English 22 and a Vatemo Ravouvou dummy sold England’s defenders and put Fiji four points ahead.
Fiji were first to put point puts on the scoreboard in the second half after Jerry Tuwai went over in the corner.
England reacted and a Phil Burgess grubber kick to Dan Norton allowed him to show his pace and score under the posts. After a successful conversion the gap closed to just three points.
In the final phase of the game England attacked relentlessly and kept the ball moving with clinical offloading and excellent support play. Fiji defended tirelessly but couldn’t keep England out when Dan Bibby fed Tom Mitchell who went over to score out wide, taking the score at full-time to 19-17 to England.
Head of England Sevens Simon Amor commented: “There are such fine margins in the game of sevens and if you don’t make one of those passes or kicks at the end then you’ll come out on the wrong side – that’s the beauty of the sport. The boys’ fight and heart was really good against Fiji and we’ve got to keep maintaining that and give our best for the semi-final.”
Amor praised the young talent in the squad, adding: “When you bring a young player like Ryan on in an occasion like that, he really stepped up and it’s really important for us to find those next young ones coming through. I’m really pleased for Ryan in particular.”
England will now play Ireland or Canada in the first Cup semi-final at the Stade Jean-Bouin at 13.03 which can be watched live on Sky Sports.
England Sevens squad for HSBC Paris Sevens:
Dan Bibby
Tom Bowen
Phil Burgess
Mike Ellery
Harry Glover
Charlie Hayter
Ollie Lindsay-Hague
Tom Mitchell
Dan Norton
Ryan Olowofela
James Rodwell
Ethan Waddleton
13th man: Will Edwards
England’s Pool D fixtures, Saturday 9 June:
Pool D – England 28-21 France
Tries: Ollie Lindsay-Hague, Ethan Waddleton, Ryan Olowofela, Phil Burgess
Pool D – England 28-19 Argentina
Tries: Harry Glover, Tom Mitchell, Dan Norton, Ryan Olowofela
Pool D – England 21-21 USA
Tries: Ollie Lindsay-Hague, Harry Glover, Ryan Olowofela
Cup quarter-final – England 19-17 Fiji
Tries: Harry Glover, Dan Norton, Tom Mitchell
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