World Sevens: New Zealand were too strong for England in the final in Wellington
Saturday 7 February 2015 09:50, UK
New Zealand have won round four of the HSBC World Series Sevens event in Wellington after defeating England in the final.
England produced a thrilling fight back to defeat Scotland in their semi-final but were second best in the decider, a pair of late consolation tries only reducing the margin of defeat.
England did well to even reach the final as they needed sudden death extra-time before beating Fiji 26-21 and then found themselves trailing Scotland 19-0.
However, they recovered to level at 19-19 and then won 24-19, again in sudden death extra time, when Charlie Hayter scored a dramatic match-winning try.
The All Blacks secured their place in the final with a hard fought 17-7 win over South Africa in a high class encounter, Jack Goodhue and Rieko Ioane scoring second half tries.
And the hosts got off to a great start in the final, scoring in the first minute when they made ground down the left, before switching the ball to Dylan Collier, who broke a tackle to score down the right.
And it was a similar story minutes later, as the England defence was sucked in by an All Blacks surge down the middle, and Gillies Kaka was left all alone to run the ball over the line.
England hit back with a fine try, moving the ball left to Marcus Watson who produced a great finish, side-stepping inside the covering defender.
However, it was 15-7 to New Zealand at half-time after a kick-ahead bounced up perfectly for the outstanding 17-year-old Rieko Ioane and he sauntered over for the try.
England then blundered at a line-out after the break, handing Scott Curry an easy try and leaving their hopes in tatters.
Another handling error allowed the All Blacks to create a second try for Ioane but captain Tom Mitchell and John Brake scored in the closing minutes as England fought hard all the way to the full-time whistle.
It was an eighth victory for New Zealand in the Wellington round of the Sevens and they have closed within seven points of series leaders South Africa, who hammered Scotland 40-7 in the play-off for third place.
