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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2014:03:23:13:21:45 by Kath..

Watson scored twice against Scotland
Highlights from Day 1: Sky Sports 3 at 1:30pm today. Coverage of Day 2: Sky Sports 4 from 5am-8:30am tomorrow.

England made a perfect start on day one in Tokyo and top pool D with wins over Scotland (36-0), Spain (29-0) and Australia (24-21).

The clean sweep means they play pool A runners up Canada in tomorrow’s quarter finals (KO 2:12am GMT) and avoid HSBC Sevens World Series reigning champions New Zealand who play Australia, after beating Canada 22-17 in the final minutes to win that opposing pool.

Both James Rodwell and Marcus Watson touched down twice as England put six tries past Scotland before captain Tom Mitchell picked up a hat-trick in the win over Spain.

In keeping with recent encounters between England and Australia (it was a narrow 26-24 victory for England last time the two sides met in Las Vegas in January) the final match of pool D was nail bitingly close. .

Having kept a clean sheet in the first two matches, England fell behind 14-7 at half time with only Dan Norton scoring his 152nd career try and Tom Mitchell converting to keep them in the game.

Australia extended their lead to 21-7 less than 30 seconds into the second half when Jesse Parahi touched down and Greg Jeloudev added the extras to take his match tally to 12 points.

Momentum then changed as a determined England side fought back with tries from Watson and former Cornish Pirate Phil Burgess before Australia’s captain Ed Jenkins was sent off. Benefiting from the one man advantage, and with less than two minutes remaining, Burgess grabbed his second to clinch the win.

With four players (Jack Clifford, Sam Stanley, Jack Blanchet and Jack Walsh) making their HSBC Sevens World Series debut this weekend, Simon Amor said: “"We are really pleased with today, especially with the new boys who have come into the side. We have been working hard on our defence and identity and it was good to see that evident on the field."

It was however the experienced faces who got England off to a strong start with Rodwell, Watson, Mitchell and Norton all on the score sheet against Scotland.

Battling to maintain core status on the World Series, Spain held out for the first five minutes against England and were almost the first to score after a 10-pass play. But Burgess struck and Dan Bibby ran in an 80-metre breakaway try as the hooter went giving England a 12-0 half time lead.

Spain enjoyed a decent amount of possession in the second half but three tries from Tom Mitchell and a conversion from Series debutant Sam Stanley put England out of sight.

Series debutant Clifford scored against NZ

England finish third in Tokyo after coming from behind to beat World Champions New Zealand 21-12 in the play-off.

Tries from Marcus Watson and Dan Norton gave England a 14-10 win over Canada in an exciting quarter final but they were undone in the semis 17-0 by a clinical South African side.

Making his HSBC Sevens World Series debut in Tokyo, Jack Clifford joined Phil Burgess, Dan Bibby and Tom Mitchell on the score sheet to clinch the win against New Zealand.

Clifford is one of four new players in a squad who have recorded five wins out of six this weekend having finished top of their pool on day one (Scotland 36-0, Spain 29-0 and Australia 24-21).

Head Coach Simon Amor said: “I’m positive about the overall outcome. To bring four new guys to a tournament who have never played in an England Sevens shirt before, alongside a number of others who have only featured a few times, and come away in third shows good progress. We have made decent steps forward this weekend and the squad will be stronger for the experience.”

New Zealand lost out to eventual winners Fiji in their semi-final but were the first to score against England with Ambrose Curtis touching down. Minutes later they lost a player to the sin bin and Bibby took advantage to level the score, driving over from close range.

A try from Sam Dickinson put the Series Champions back in the lead but the conversion was missed leaving it 12-7 at half time.

A Clifford try, off the back of a well worked team move, and a second successful conversion from Mitchell nudged England ahead (12-14) before Burgess exploited the overlap to score his fourth of the tournament and secure the win.

England remain fourth in the series standings but South Africa have overtaken New Zealand at the top of the table, despite losing 33-26 to Fiji in the Cup Final. There was silverware for Wales who beat Scotland 28-21 in the Bowl Final and the USA recorded their highest tournament finish this season even though they lost out to Australia 17-12 in the Plate.

The seventh round of the HSBC Sevens World Series takes place in Hong Kong next weekend where England face Argentina, Canada and Portugal in pool C.

Assessing the draw Amor said: “It is a tough group. Argentina are a very good, abrasive team at the break down, as are Portugal, and we only just snuck past Canada in the quarter finals so we will need to be really focused for every single game. If however we perform as well as we did against New Zealand then we put ourselves in a position to have another good tournament.”