June 1, 2008

England miss out on Cup glory

New Zealand 24-14 England

Bitter disappointment for England this evening as they lose out to New Zealand in the Cup Final of the Emirates Airline Edinburgh Sevens.

In a supremely physical match, the Kiwis took the lead 19-0 in the first-half with tries from Solomon King, David Smith and Chad Truro but England hit back just before the break, giant wing Uche Oduoza crossing the line to keep England’s spirits high.

England had much of the possession in the second-half, substitute Ollie Phillips slipping through the New Zealand defence to score his third try of the tournament taking the scores to 19-14. But a last minute effort by Nigel Hunt sealed England’s fate.

Said Coach Ben Ryan: “We have done really well here at Murrayfield. Our quarter final performance against South Africa today was one of the best displays for a long time.

“We let the New Zealand game run away from us a little in the first-half, but we fought back in the second half and it could have gone either way.

“This is our first final this season and a lot of the process is about being used to finals. The boys have come on so much, 12 months ago when I took charge we got absolutely battered by New Zealand, so this shows how far we have come.

“England can be a real force next season, come the next World Series and the World Cup in Dubai England will hopefully be right up there at the top of the tree.”

England: Chris Cracknell (Cornish Pirates), Tom Youngs (Leicester Tigers), Jack Adams (Gloucester Rugby), Andy Vilk (Sale Sharks, captain), Ben Gollings (Sunnybank, Australia), Uche Oduoza (Worcester Warriors), Kevin Barrett (Exeter Chiefs)

Replacements: Tom Biggs (Leeds Carnegie), Ollie Phillips (Newcastle Falcons), Ollie Cook (Doncaster Knights)

Scorers:  Oduoza (t), Phillips (t) Gollings (c)

To follow England Sevens go to www.rfu.com/sevens

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