England Sevens silver medallists in Sydney
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Loading...England has been beaten 29-14 by South Africa in the final of the Sydney Sevens after victories over Argentina and New Zealand secured their place in the top two.
Simon Amor’s squad are now second in the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series behind the BlitzBoks with South Africa’s victory avenging their defeats to England in yesterday’s pool encounter and in the final of the Cape Town Sevens.
England Sevens Head Coach Amor said: “What is most pleasing about this weekend is that it was genuinely a 12 man effort, you saw the impact that the substitutes made which is so important in the heat and humidity and with it being the second tournament on the bounce. We have a very good group of 12 where everyone contributes.
“The players are disappointed with the final but we have to look at the positives – we are currently second in the World Series standings and it is exciting that we can still be a lot better and have plenty to work on.”
This was South Africa’s third Cup win on the circuit this season and they scored the opening try of final in the first minute with Philip Snyman going over after finding space on the left wing. Seabelo Senatla scored their second while Justin Geduld made it 19-0 at the break.
Geduld claimed his second after half-time but Tom Mitchell gave England hope with their first try of the game.
However, Stephan Dippenaar finished of Senatla’s break to extend their lead and although Dan Norton had the final say of the match with a late try it was too little, too late.
Amor added: “The final was one of those games where South Africa came out firing and we made some fundamental mistakes. Some of their players are moving on and you could see how motivated they were to win for them in their last tournament. They were the better team in that final and sometimes in sevens you have to put your hands up and say that they got it right and we got it wrong.”
England earned their place in the final courtesy of a 12-5 semi-final victory over New Zealand with a try from Phil Burgess levelling the scores after an early score from Regan Ware. It remained 5-5 until Ollie Lindsay-Hague crossed in the closing stages for the win.
England advanced through to the semi-finals by defeating Argentina 24-7 in the last eight. They led 12-7 at half-time through tries from Mitchell and Burgess while Matias Ocsaduk responded for Argentina.
England lost Mitchell to the sin bin just before the break but Alex Davis’ score and a late effort from Tom Bowen extended their lead.
England Sevens:
Dan Bibby, Tom Bowen, Phil Burgess, Alex Davis, Richard de Carpentier, Ollie Lindsay-Hague, Charlie Hayter, Ruaridh McConnochie, Tom Mitchell ©, Dan Norton, James Rodwell, Ethan Waddleton
Day two results:
Cup final
England 14 – 29 South Africa
Tries: Mitchell, Norton
Conversions: Mitchell (2)
Cup semi-final
England 12-5 New Zealand
Tries: Burgess, Lindsay-Hague
Conversion: Mitchell
Cup quarter-final
England 24 – 7 Argentina
Tries: Mitchell, Burgess, Davis, Bowen
Conversions: Mitchell (2)
England’s Pool A results:
England 19-12 Kenya
England 26 – 0 Japan
England 21-15 South Africa
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