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England miss out on Cup quarter-finals

Saturday 25 May 2019 21:37, UK

James Rodwell of England celebrates after scoring
Image: James Rodwell of England celebrates after scoring

England missed out on reaching the Cup quarter-finals after the first day of the London Sevens at Twickenham Stadium.

New Zealand, Ireland and England all finished in Pool C with seven points but England missed out on qualifying for the Cup due to an inferior points difference.

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England were in trouble from the first game, when they lost to Ireland 21-17. The English came back in a thrilling second half to lead 17-14 with time almost up, but Irish replacement Mike McGrath, on debut, raced through to score.

Ryan Olowofela takes on the New Zealand defence
Image: Ryan Olowofela takes on the New Zealand defence

With New Zealand comfortably beating Scotland and Ireland, England needed to beat the Kiwis by 10 to reach the quarterfinals, however could only manage a bittersweet 17-12 win.

Failing to reach to quarter-finals of the Cup means that England's chance of automatically qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics are all but over.

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With top four automatically qualifying, The United States, Fiji, and New Zealand have wrapped up the top three berths while South Africa have almost locked up the fourth qualifying spot after winning their pool.

Kurt- Lee Arendse in action for South Africa
Image: Kurt- Lee Arendse in action for South Africa

The blitzbokke were the most impressive in pool play, going unbeaten in putting 49 points on Japan, 45 on Canada, and 40 on Argentina.

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Fiji, the reigning Olympic champions, were made to fret by Samoa, who led 17-14 until Fiji newcomer Asaeli Tuivuaka and Waisea Nacuqu both scored for a 26-17 win.

Current series leaders the USA, knocked off Spain and Wales but were under pressure from Australia after Steve Tomasin was sin-binned. However Tomasin came back to score a try from his own half, and Madison Hughes made the conversion for the U.S. to win 19-17 and stay unbeaten.

Catch all the action of the London Sevens on Sky Sports, click here for details

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