England survive Scotland scare

England have struggled on the sevens circuit recently, and lost to NZ in the pool matches yesterday. They recovered to beat Fiji and this gave them a semi-final match against Scotland. Scotland beat a useful looking US team for their own spot but England would have seen this as one of their best chances to secure a place in the final, and valuable ranking points.

Scotland almost pulled off a famous win. They ran out to a 19-0 lead and only a late first half try kept England in the game. England couldn't get going in the second half but suddenly found space down the left wing for two late tries. They couldn't convert the second with only ten seconds on the clock but managed to claim the restart. Scotland stopped one attack illegally and lost a man to the bin. With the last play of the game, England went over for a winning try. Heartbreak for Scotland and a let-off for the English.

South Africa are playing NZ in the other semi-final. NZ, who are hosting this round in Wellington, went into an early lead but the Boks have levelled with a man in the bin.

England are playing NZ in the final. They are down 7-15 at half time (one converted try vs three unconverted). Don't think anyone expects the visitors to win but it would be nice to keep it competitive.

England went down 21-27, which sounds closer than it was. The hosts were very good value for their win.

And just to complete the picture, Scotland got absolutely spanked by South African in the third place play offs.

Still, 4th is better than we've achieved in a while, although to be honest it doesn't do much to assuage the average Scotland fan's fears that maintaining a 7s team is a monstrous waste of time and money, particularly given that we only have 2 pro teams.

Well done England to get to the finals, though.

Look out for Rieko Ioane. 17 year old out of Auckland. Started for the NZ team. Potentially a future AB. Usually plays in the centres.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lc8K9m08Eto

blackcanelion wrote:Look out for Rieko Ioane. 17 year old out of Auckland. Started for the NZ team. Potentially a future AB. Usually plays in the centres.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lc8K9m08Eto

Oh my god. Where do you get these kids from?

George Carlin wrote:

blackcanelion wrote:Look out for Rieko Ioane. 17 year old out of Auckland. Started for the NZ team. Potentially a future AB. Usually plays in the centres.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lc8K9m08Eto

Oh my god. Where do you get these kids from?

His mum Sandra was a Black Fern and dad Eddie got five caps at lock for Samoa. I wondered why he and his brother Akira have Japanese names, Looks like they were born there when his dad was playing club rugby for Ricoh. Bet Eddie Jones wishes Japan conferred nationality through jus soli.