England beat Wales in their opening Hong Kong Sevens clash
Friday 27 March 2015 14:35, UK
England opened their Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens campaign with a tense 26-19 win over Wales on Friday.
Tom Mitchell, Dan Bibby, Phil Burgess and James Rodwell scored tries for England but they were forced to dig deep to open their Pool D campaign with victory.
Luke Morgan touched down twice for Wales and full international Rhodri Williams also scored, but they will most likely have to rely on an England slip-up to qualify on Saturday.
"The atmosphere in Hong Kong is incredible and the first game can often be difficult, adjusting to everything that is going on," Mitchell said.
"We didn't stick to our game-plan the way we intended and as a result let Wales take advantage.
"There were some strong individual performances in attack. A few lads are playing in Hong Kong for the first time and it was good to see them stepping up."
Both sides face games against the United States and Kenya, who met on Friday with the Americans coming out on top 21-14
Scotland were beaten 26-7 by New Zealand in their first game, while there were opening day wins for France, Australia, Canada, South Africa and Fiji, who cruised past a tough Samoa side 38-12.
