ENGLAND DEFEATED BY NEW ZEALAND AT HAMILTON SEVENS
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Loading...England Sevens finished joint seventh at the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series in Hamilton after the knockout stages.
After finishing second in their pool on day one, England faced hosts New Zealand and were narrowly beaten 12-19. They were then edged out by Samoa as they lost 17-22 to the side that would end up being placed fifth.
It is the second tournament in a row where England have finished joint seventh, with the next meeting at the Las Vegas leg of the series in March.
Head of England Sevens Simon Amor had spoken about England improving their attacking form and Ruaridh McConnochie put the men in white up against host New Zealand in the quarter-final.
The hosts crossed twice before McConnochie got his second score of the game and in a match which ebbed and flowed before a Scott Curry try eventually secured the win for New Zealand.
England moved on to the fifth place semi-final against Samoa and Ollie Lindsay-Hague put them ahead inside the first minute.
However, despite tries from Tom Bowen and Phil Burgess England were narrowly edged out by a Samoan side that would secure fifth place by beating Kenya later on.
“It’s been a tough two weeks for us as a programme losing out in the quarter-final stages – we aspire to be better than that,” said Simon Amor.
“We pushed New Zealand to the wire in the quarter-final and then losing out to Samoa in extra time highlights that we just got on the wrong side of some close score lines again.
“We are looking to evolve and progress our attack and defence and I’m pleased with the continual fight within the group but we made too many mistakes. It’s really important that we keep on learning, growing and finding new ways to get better. There are some big lessons to take away and learn from these two tournaments which will give us great motivation moving forward.
“I’m really happy for Ryan Olowofela who scored his first two tries on the World Series yesterday – a great demonstration of the young talent we have coming through the programme and the depth that this adds to the squad.”
England finished second in their pool on day one, following some impressive attacking rugby in their opening two fixtures.
McConnochie got England’s day off running as he crossed for the first of two tries against Russia inside the first minute in a 47-0 win, with 19-year-old Ryan Olowofela also scoring twice in that match.
England were over inside the first minute again against Papua New Guinea as Tom Bowen raced away to dot down within the first 60 seconds, in the first of what turned into a hat-trick against the Pacific Islanders in a 27-0 victory.
In the game to decide who finished top, England were undone by world champions South Africa in a 7-28 defeat, with Dan Norton going over for England’s only score in the final play of the game.
England Sevens squad for HSBC New Zealand Sevens:
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
13th man: Will Edwards
England’s Hamilton Sevens fixtures:
Pool B – England 47-0 Russia
Tries: Ruaridh McConnochie (2), Ethan Waddleton, Dan Norton, Ryan Olowofela (2), Tom Bowen
Pool B – England 27-0 Papua New Guinea
Tries: Tom Bowen (3), Phil Burgess, Dan Norton
Pool B – England 7-28 South Africa
Tries: Dan Norton
Quarter-final – England 12-19 New Zealand
Tries: Ruaridh McConnochie (2)
Fifth place semi-final – England 17-22 Samoa
Tries: Ollie Lindsay-Hague (2), Tom Bowen
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