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oh beggary boos - Australia turn England over on the first day

Poo. Australia haven't been much cop at 7's recently but I guess they turned it on for the home crowd.

With the underrated Portugal to come as well as Samoa, might not make it to the Cup QF's



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009:04:03:22:34:30 by Slater582.

Day 2 - reports

England had earlier recovered well from their day one loss to Australia to score five unanswered tries and beat Portugal 29-0.

Tom Varndell put in a strong performance and he and Josh Drauniniu each grabbed a brace, while James Rodwell also scored for injury-hit England, who are down to 9 men in Adelaide and gave an international debut to Mika Taufaao from the reserve player pool.


England needed a draw against Samoa to go through on points difference, and achieved exactly that from a thrilling game that see-sawed throughout.

Alatasi Tupou and Afa Aiono twice put the Samoans ahead but Tom Varndell hit back on both occasions in the first half to trail 12-10.


Ollie Phillips then put them ahead but Uale Mai hit back for the islanders and amazingly Ben Gollings reclaimed the lead by five points, before Alafoti Fa'osiliva's try gave Lolo Lui a conversion to wide from out wide.

He missed and the 24-all result was enough for England.


Now they meet Fiji once again in the 1/4 final of the Cup

England Progress To Adelaide Sevens Quarter Finals
Saturday April 4, 2009
Issued by Richard Prescott

The England Sevens team recovered well from their 17-21 reverse to Australia on Friday and moved through to the quarter finals on day two of the IRB World Sevens Series in Adelaide courtesy of a comfortable 29-0 win against Portugal and a 24-24 draw with Samoa.

Ben Ryan's team cruised past Portugal with a brace of tries each for Tom Varndell (Leicester Tigers) and Josh Drauniniu (Royal Navy/Exeter Chiefs) and one from James Rodwell (Moseley RFC).

In the final Pool A game Samoa started strongly and quickly took a 0-12 lead but two tries from Tom Varndell saw England back in contention at half time (10-12). England then took a second half lead through captain Ollie Phillips (Newcastle Falcons) (17-12) before the lead went back to the Samoa (17-19).

Ben Gollings (Gold Coast, Australia) appeared to have won the game for England with a converted try (24-19) before Samoa equalised right on full time but they could not covert the try.

England now play Fiji, winners of the Hong Kong Sevens on Sunday at *1.12pm (local time).

England Sevens Coach Ben Ryan said "I'm delighted that we bounced back so well today after the disappointing loss to Australia on day one. The win against Portugal and the draw with Samoa has helped keep alive our objective of winning the IRB World Sevens series.

"Fiji proved again in Hong Kong what a good side they are and we're all looking forward to what I'm sure will be a good game tomorrow."

*The UK is nine and a half hours behind Adelaide.

So if Samoa had converted we wouldn't have made it...nice to have a close game go our way then.

Have to up the quality if they want to beat Fiji.

England Win Plate Final in Adelaide
Sunday April 5, 2009
Issued by Richard Prescott


The England Sevens squad recovered well from a heavy quarter-final defeat to Fiji in the IRB World Sevens Series in Adelaide today (40-0) to beat both New Zealand (21-14) and Australia (24-19) to win the Plate final.

Tries from James Rodwell (Moseley RFC), Chris Cracknell (Exeter Chiefs) and a superb solo effort from Dan Caprice (Saracens) sealed England's semi final win against New Zealand before Ben Ryan's side faced a return match with hosts Australia who had beaten England in the pool stages.

Tom Varndell (Leicester Tigers) had returned for the Plate matches after being suspended for the quarter final against Fiji and he scored one of England's four tries against Australia. James Rodwell, and captain Ollie Phillips (Newcastle Falcons) added further tries in normal time but with the scores locked at 19-19 on the final whistle extra time had to be played.

England produced the winning try after an excellent move, which was finished off by Ben Gollings (Gold Coast, Australia) to give Ben Ryan's side the Plate.

England Sevens Coach, Ben Ryan said "We were obviously disappointed to lose to Fiji but I was very pleased with the way the players came back to beat New Zealand and Australia to win the Plate Final. England remain in second place in the IRB World Sevens Series and we're looking forward to playing in front of our own fans next month at Twickenham Stadium."

England leave Adelaide with eight points to add to their IRB World Sevens total, which now stands at 76 leaving them in second place as they prepare for the next leg of the IRB World Sevens series, the Emirates Airline London Sevens to be played at Twickenham Stadium on May 23 and 24.

Tickets for the Emirates Airline London Sevens are available by calling Ticketmaster on 0844 8472492 or by contacting www.ticketmaster.co.uk.





Highlights of the IRB World Sevens Series in Adelaide will be shown on Monday, April 6 at 7pm on Sky Sports 1.


CURRENT IRB WORLD SEVENS SERIES STANDINGS

South Africa 104
England 76
Fiji 74
Argentina 68
New Zealand 64