England Sevens - move onto PETCO Park Stadium, San Diego, California
USA for the next round of the IRB World Series.
After a below par performance in New Zealand only just managing to win the Bowl Final, England will be looking for a much better round in the USA
IRB Sevens World Series 2008 - USA
PETCO Park, San Diego, California
England 7s team will be putting New Zealand behind them and moving onto sunny California for the next round of the IRB World Series Sevens Tournament. England will meet the hosts USA in their second match on the first day. Rugby in the USA appears to becoming much more popular. Some stats., you may or may not know regarding USA Rugby.
Rugby is the fastest growing sport in the nation on U.S. high school campuses with more than 20-percent a year growth over the last five years. Rugby is one of the most popular club sports on hundreds of college campuses across the nation 98% of collegiate rugby players graduate 82% of USA Rugby players over the age of 21 hold a college degree 50% of college players go on to graduate school
England's first match result
England 48 - 0 Mexico
England got their USA Sevens campaign off to a fine start with a 48-0 mauling of Mexico in San Diego.
After poor performances in the last two events of the IRB Sevens World Series in South Africa and New Zealand, the English were in total command throughout their clash with the Pool D minnows and now look set to vie with South Africa for top spot.
I just got back from the san diego 7s - england and newbury supporter living over in LA and boy was today great! The boys were fantastic in the last group game and beat SA 14-10 with a try at the death to win it! Looked liked damudamu got a bad injury almost as soon as the game kicked off which was a real shame as he was awesome in first 2 games. I cant wait for tomorrow's games - come on england! Oh, here is qf draw;
eng v kenya
fiji v NZ
samoa v scotland
sa v argentina
England exit day two of the IRB USA Sevens after loosing their Cup quarter final against Kenya.
England had an impressive first day in San Diego winning all three of their pool matches against Mexico, USA and South Africa.
Outstanding performers Ben Gollings (Toyota), Anthony Elliott (Bristol Rugby), Matt Banahan (Bath Rugby) and Kevin Barrett (Exeter Chiefs) all contributed to England's first day victories.
Isoa Damudamu (Newbury/Army) inspired the win against USA with a fantastic performance but unfortunately was ruled out of the rest of the tournament with a suspected dislocated shoulder.
England faced Kenya on day two in the Cup quarter final but they couldn't match their day one performances and missed out on a Cup semi final place by loosing 7-17.
Faced with the Plate semi final and Fiji England fought hard but once again lost out and went down 21-14 to go out of the competition.
Said coach Ben Ryan, "We suffered a lot of humility on the first day of the New Zealand tournament but we worked hard this week and I'm really pleased for the players they have regained respect.
"There's a certain amount you can do as the coach but the players have to go out there and play and on day one that's exactly what they did.
"Isoa fell awkwardly and I think he might have dislocated his shoulder, which would be a massive blow to us and to him," added Ryan.
"I think he's the best forward in world sevens rugby so it was a massive blow when he came off."
England will now look forwards to the IRB Hong Kong Sevens which is the half way point of the series on the 28, 29 & 30 March 2008.
England's IRB USA Sevens results:
Pool
England 48-0 Mexico
England 28-21 USA
South Africa 10-14 England
Cup quarter final
England 7-17 Kenya
Plate semi final
Fiji 21-14 England
Watch England in their only home tournament at Twickenham on 24th & 25th May. Tickets from £10 www.ticketmaster.co.uk
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