England continued their progress in the last three legs of the 2001/02 IRB World Sevens Series. After losing in the quarter-finals to South Africa in Malaysia at the end of April, the England team went on to the IRB World Sevens Series Emirates Airline London Sevens at Twickenham Stadium.

Going into the tournament lying in fourth place in the world rankings just behind Fiji, England knew that a good performance could close the gap. Courtesy of a series of excellent displays, England comfortably came through the pool stages, winning their group, before producing some scintillating rugby to defeat Australia in the quarter-finals. South Africa were the opposition in the semis and the Springboks had to produce some outstanding play to beat England by a final score of 26-12. England moved to joint third place with Fiji in the world rankings as a result of their semi-final appearance.

The last leg of the series was held in Cardiff the following weekend (Emirates Airline Cardiff Sevens) and again England topped their group in the pool stages with wins over hosts Wales, Russia and France. Scotland and Fiji were defeated in the quarter and semi-finals respectively before they faced New Zealand, winners at Twickenham and the number one ranked side in the world, in the final. Far from being fazed by New Zealand, England produced some superb rugby and, if a couple of decisions had gone their way, the score line might have been very different. However, the final score of 24-12 to New Zealand showed how well England had played, considering that the All Blacks had put over 50 points on South Africa in the Twickenham final the week before.