England finish seventh at Sydney 7s after defeats to Argentina and New Zealand
Sunday 28 January 2018 15:21, UK
England were beaten by New Zealand in the fifth place semi-final at the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series in Sydney as their tournament came to an end.
After finishing second in Pool C played over the first two days of competition, England lost 10-0 to Argentina in the Cup quarter-final and although they held the lead at the break, went down 5-10 to the All Blacks.
The results mean England are ranked joint seventh with Kenya for their efforts in Sydney and take 10 points towards their World Series ranking ahead of Hamilton 7s next weekend.
"It's obviously disappointing to once again be on the wrong end of some really close score lines," said Head of England Sevens Simon Amor.
"The boys worked very hard and we were defending brilliantly on this last day against some great teams, but our attacking game is just not quite clicking at the moment.
"It was frustrating losing Alex Davis at the start of the tournament through injury and we really feel for him, as well as losing Dan Bibby for day three - but he'll be back and available for us again in Hamilton."
Looking ahead to the HSBC Hamilton Sevens on February 3-4, Amor added: "A three-day event is pretty gruelling for all the teams involved here so rest and recovery over the next few days is also going to be really important.
"As well as looking to make some improvements in our attacking game going into next weekend."
England's Sydney Sevens results:
- Pool C - England 22-10 Spain
- Pool C - England 35-5 Papua New Guinea
- Pool C - England 12-33 South Africa
- Cup quarter-final - England 0-10 Argentina
- Fifth place semi-final - England 5-10 New Zealand
