England coach Ben Ryan has defended his decision to rest players in the pool defeat to South Africa at the Wellington Sevens.
Coach insists England will be fresh for the knockout stages
England coach Ben Ryan has defended his decision to rest players in the pool defeat to South Africa at the Wellington Sevens.
Having toppled the Cook Islands and the USA to secure their place in the knockout stages of the fourth leg of the HSBC Sevens World Series, Ryan rotated his squad for the final pool game.
And although Tom Mitchell and Greg Barden both scored against the South Africans, England finished up losing 14-10.
The result means England will now face Tonga, surprise pool winners after finishing day one in Wellington unbeaten, in the last-eight.
However Ryan believes his tactics will mean England will go into the knockout stages fresh.
"We played okay against the Cook Islands and really well against the USA which put us in the quarter finals knowing that if we lost we'd play Tonga and that if we won we'd play Fiji with a lot of guys rested," said Ryan.
"We just lost to South Africa but it was the right decision to make although Tonga will be tough and we'll have to play well to beat them."
Ex-Bristol wideman Mat Turner and former Gloucester wing Dan Norton and occupy second and third in this season's try-scoring charts, with 17 and 16 respectively. New Zealand's Frank Halai leads the way on 20.
