England finish third at London Sevens
England put their semi-final disappointment at the London Sevens beating Fiji 26-19 to finish third.
With tries from James Rodwell, Howard Packman, Tom Mitchell and Mat Turner England ended the day strongly despite making a slow and disappointing start.
They trailed France for the duration of the quarter final before, as with yesterday’s pool decider against HSBC Sevens World Series Champions New Zealand, Tom Mitchell slotted a crucial two points with the last kick of the game to nudge the hosts ahead 19-17.
Against Australia however, England fell behind 15-0 and despite a determined second-half comeback with tries from Mitchell and Dan Norton, the challenge was too great and the final slipped out of reach 15-12.
Head Coach Simon Amor said: “It has been a frustrating day, the players really wanted to connect with the crowd and show what it meant to be playing for England in an England shirt at Twickenham and unfortunately we tried too hard on occasions and as a result our decision making wasn’t quite good enough against France and Australia.
“You cannot however question their desire and endeavour and I’m really pleased with the character they showed to come back from this morning’s disappointment and play some really good rugby against a strong Fiji side. I’m particularly delighted with young Howard Packman who was fantastic and hopefully that will be good experience for him going into the Junior World Cup.”
Mitchell added: “It was a slow start today but we turned that around and in some ways that is more important because it shows we have got the heart and the passion. Every time these guys turn out in an England shirt there is 100% effort and it’s just about putting the technical things together now and improving consistency across tournaments.
“It has been amazing playing in front of the crowd here at Twickenham, to have everyone cheering us on makes a massive difference and we really appreciate everyone turning out to support us. I think everyone has really enjoyed themselves and that’s great to see.”
Yesterday’s attendance set a new record with 112, 487 fans attended Twickenham across the weekend.
New Zealand lifted the Cup with a high scoring final against Australia (52-33) as they also claimed their 12th Series title in 15 years.
