Day 1 results now coming in!

New Zealand starting off as they mean to go on!

Good start for England 7s in the first day of the Hong Kong Sevens 2008

England 24 - 12 Canada

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Sevens to seniors is Ryan's role



BEN RYAN believes that the England Sevens side is providing a vital conveyor belt of talent to the senior team.



As England kick off their Cathay Pacific Credit Suisse Hong Kong Sevens campaign tonight (Friday), Head Coach Ryan explains on this week’s Gillette Podcast how the shortened game has a key role in player development.



“Some of our key rivals like New Zealand have been together for five years now and that is a big difference. They see Sevens as slightly more of a separate entity,” said Ryan.



“We see it as part of our elite pathway for player development. In the last 14 months we have had Tom Croft, James Haskell, David Strettle, Mike Brown and Nick Abendanon coming through the ranks who have all been capped.



“This year we have already had Ben Foden, Danny Care, Tom Guest, Matt Banahan and Ayoola Erinle who are all going to be pushing themselves into the Saxons and beyond.”



Five of England’s Grand Slam Under-20s winning side – Jon Fisher, John Brake, Noah Cato, Matt Cox and Ben Youngs - are in Hong Kong and Ryan added: “Our No 1 goal is to help these guys progress and to accelerate their learning.



"Sevens is a very important part of that. Apart from the technical facets of game understanding and the ability to make hundreds of decisions over these six games (in Hong Kong) it’s also getting them to play in a highly volatile atmosphere. Big crowds and pressure situations are ones we want our young England players to play in as much as they can.



“It can mean we are going to win less titles in the short term but as far as long term player development is concerned, we are up there at the top of the tree in being an international team helping players move on to the England senior side.”



England take on Canada today and then Sri Lanka and Samoa tomorrow in their pool matches and Ryan added: “You have to win your group to qualify so the pressure is on from the off for teams to win their games and move into the serious stages of the tournament on Sunday. It’s a hugely exciting challenge for these young guys.”



One person who knows about player development is England Under-16s lead coach Gareth Rees, who is bowing out after nine years.



England came away from the Four Nations Tournament in Lyon with a win over Italy (12-3), draw with France (24-24) and a one-point loss (13-12) to eventual victors Wales.



England included captain Owen and George Ford, sons of Saracens’ Andy Farrell and England assistant coach Mike respectively.



“I have absolute confidence that some of these guys will be seen at higher levels of representative rugby and they have shown the characteristics and the skill level to move on to greater things,” said Rees.



“George Ford was only 15 a few days ago but he has shown a level of understanding, composure and skill way beyond his years.”



Meanwhile, former Scotland star Kenny Logan is championing a remedy for dyslexia which he believes can also improve players’ performance on the field using neurological tests and exercises.



Logan, who suffered dyslexia himself, said: “I started the Dore programme for reading and writing issues and they got better and then I realised that I was taking in information from coaches quicker, seeing the game better and my hand-eye co-ordination and skill level got better and that’s when I went to Dore and said ‘is there an opportunity here in sport?’.



“We have now got a lot of rugby players going through the Dore Sport programme (including Tom Rees and Scott Quinnell).”

Excellent start to the second day in Hong Kong

England 47 - 7 Sri Lanka

Next up will be ..............

Samoa - England 1834 local time


so by my reckoning they are playing right now

Excellent, Excellent

Samoa 5 - England 7

Well done lads. Lets have a good day tomorrow.

Who do we play in the QF?

Updated now, would you believe it

1426(local time HKG)1/4 finals Cup Samoa v England

Second Day Report


Samoa 5 - 7 England



England finished day two of the Cathay Pacific/Credit Suisse Hong Kong Sevens top of their group after a nail-biting match with Samoa.



England were behind until the sixth minute of the second half when Simon Hunt (Ebbw Vale) battled his way through the Samoan defence line to score a game saving try in the right corner.



Samoa came back on the full time buzzer running over the tryline to score but were pulled into touch by John Brake (Northampton Saints) and Noah Cato (Saracens), leaving England with the victory.



Said Coach Ben Ryan, “It’s a big result, we have to calm down as we have to face them again tomorrow and tonight might come back to haunt us. Samoa are a very good side, Sevens is always on a knife edge and we were the right side of that edge tonight.



We stuck hard at our defence today, we had a bit of backs against the wall stuff and we decided as a group when we were home in England we were going to make sure that we made effort and put our bodies on the line.



Quarter final of Hong Kong was our number one goal but we could play one game tomorrow we could play three, we need to remember that we have been previously beaten by the Cook Islands, Kenya we have lost plenty of games so we must keep focused.



England will now face Samoa again tomorrow (Sunday) in the Cup quarter final at 1.47pm



England: Chris Mayor (Sale Sharks), John Brake (Northampton Saints), Anthony Elliott (Bristol Rugby),

Andy Vilk (captain, Sale Sharks), Kevin Barrett (Exeter Chiefs), Ben Gollings (Sunnybank),Simon Hunt (Ebbw Vale).



Replacements: Noah Cato (Saracens), Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers), Matt Cox (Worcester Warriors).



England scorers: Simon Hunt (t), Ben Gollings (c)

John Brake of England (R) is tackled during the IRB Sevens World Series Hong Kong match between England and Canada on March 28, 2008 in Hong Kong, China. (Photo by Andrew Wong/Getty Images)

Colourful sights of Hong Kong 7s




Cheeky monkey! Fans come in all shapes and sizes at the Sevens..