Sunday 20th March 2005
England 36 Scotland 0Yet again it was England’s strong defence which ensured they progressed further in the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Hong Kong today. With great performances by Tony Roques (London Irish), Peter Richards (London Wasps), Pat Sanderson (Worcester Warriors) and Phil Dowson (Newcastle Falcons) in particular, England recorded their fourth clean sheet in the tournament.
England showed signs of returning to form with first half tries from Richard Haughton (Saracens), Pete Richards and Tony Roques, helping England lead 17-0 at the break.
Further tries by Ben Gollings, Rob Thirlby (Penzance & Newlyn) and Geoff Appleford (London Irish) meant that England had eased comfortably ahead and two successful conversions throughout the match from Ben Gollings and one final conversion from captain Simon Amor (Gloucester) meant England beat Scotland 36-0 on this Calcutta Cup weekend.
England now face a tough semi final against the form team of the tournament, Fiji. Fiji were victorious in the Rugby World Cup Sevens when it was last staged in Hong Kong in 1997, and have been impressive during the last couple of days.
England Sevens Coach Mike Friday, knows it will be a tough challenge to beat the Fijians, “They (Fiji) have bags of pace and will present England with a formidable challenge. But we have to show real determination to beat them but I know we have that ability.”
Speaking on the win over Scotland, Friday gave credit to the Scots, “Scotland deserved their place in the Cup quarter finals as they have been playing well. They gave us a challenge and our guys thankfully stepped up to the plate and met that challenge head on. Day three really is another tournament in itself and these knock out stages bring out different qualities to some players and that’s what happened to our players against Scotland.”
England play Fiji in the semi final at 17.23 local / 9.23am UK time.
Scorers:
England – Tries: Richard Haughton, Peter Richards, Tony Roques, Ben Gollings, Rob Thirlby, Geoff Appleford
Conversions: Ben Gollings (2), Simon Amor
England – Tony Roques (London Irish), Pat Sanderson (Worcester Warriors),
Peter Richards (London Wasps), Phil Dowson (Newcastle Falcons), Ben Gollings, Simon Amor, Captain (Gloucester), Richard Haughton (Saracens)
Reps: Rob Thirlby (Penzance & Newlyn), Geoff Appleford (London Irish), Neil Starling (Northampton Saints)
Reps not used: Henry Paul (Gloucester), Ugo Monye (NEC Harlequins)
Scotland – Mark Lee, David Gray, Kelly Brown, Andrew Turnbull, Jamie Blackwood, Roland Reid, Clark Laidlaw
Reps: Olo Brown, Colin Gregor, Alasdair Strokosch
Reps not used: Kenny Sinclair, Calum MacRae
Referee: Brett Bowden (Australia)
