May 24, 2008

England through to the Cup

South Africa 22-7 England

England will face New Zealand in the Cup quarter finals of the Emirates Airline London Sevens at Twickenham in Sunday’s second session after finishing second in the pool behind winners South Africa.

Having won their opening pool matches against Spain and France, England needed to defeat South Africa for overall victory in their group. But in the event the Springbok seven had all the aces, not least of which was pace throughout the team.

England made a good start against South Africa answering a Springbok try by Gio Aplon with a fine effort from Ollie Phillips and the conversion by Ben Gollings for a 7-5 interval lead.

But thereafter it was South Africa who did the scoring with tries by Aplon, current Springbok cap Kabamba Floors, and MJ Mentz for a 22-7 win.

Said Coach Ben Ryan: “I’m reasonably happy about facing New Zealand in the quarters. The odd defeat does you some good. What we have to do against New Zealand is retain possession and sharpen are act at the breakdown.

“New Zealand have efficiency and don’t make many mistakes. And their defence is suffocating” added Ryan.

England (v South Africa) Ollie Phillips, Ben Gollings, Uche Oduoza, Rob Webber, Lee Dickson, Ben Foden, Andrew Vilk Subs Tom Biggs, Tom Youngs, Kevin Barrett

England play New Zealand at 12.28pm in the Cup quarter final Sunday May 25.

To follow England Sevens visit www.rfu.com/sevens

Ends