What do you think? You can have your say by posting below.
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015:04:05:11:59:28 by Kath..

England won their first Cup title since the 2013 Wellington Sevens, beating South Africa 21-14 in the final of the Tokyo Sevens, round seven of the HSBC Sevens World Series.

Stout defence and brilliant individual tries from Charlie Hayter, Tom Mitchell and Phil Burgess provided the foundations of an enthralling win to put England back into the top four in the standings for the first time since before the Dubai Sevens and have a nine point lead over Australia who lost in the Bowl final to USA.

"The way the guys fought for that win was brilliant," enthused England coach Simon Amor after his side's win. "It's fantastic for us and a great climax for us to go back to the UK now. I am so proud for the players, they've worked so hard for this."

England Sevens claim Tokyo title

England have beaten HSBC Sevens World Series leaders South Africa 21-14 to win the Tokyo Sevens final this morning.

The gutsy performance and title win is the team’s first tournament victory since 2013 and moves Simon Amor’s side into the top four of this season’s series rankings.

The two physical teams played in wet and slippery conditions and both sides were guilty of mistakes in the opening exchanges.

England survived an early scare after South Africa’s Seabelo Senatla dropped the ball just before he was able to ground it over the line.

However it was England who were able to capitalise on their first opportunity when Charlie Hayter burst through three defenders and dived in to score and take his side into the lead.

Captain Tom Mitchell duly converted but South Africa swiftly replied and a good kick was collected by Justin Geduld to score and level the game up 7-7.

With the scores all square at the beginning of the second half Mitchell booted the ball into space behind his opposition and chased down to score a fantastic solo effort to take his team out to a 14-7 lead. South Africa instantly looked to respond but it was some great England defence that kept them at bay.

Both teams tried to take advantage of the space behind with kicks over the top and South Africa came close before Phil Burgess picked up from a breakdown on his own line to sprint the length of the field to take England out to a 21-7 lead.

The South Africans fought back with a try from Cecil Afrika after picking up a low pass and slipping between the defence with two minutes remaining.

But England held out in the dying seconds. Mitchell cleared the ball into touch, after a successful England lineout take, to secure England’s first tournament title this season.

Simon Amor, England Head Coach praised his team’s efforts: “I’m incredibly proud of the guys, they have worked so hard these last few weeks. It wasn’t pretty rugby this weekend, from a lot of teams I think, but we carried on grafting and I am incredibly proud of them.

“We are trying to be better than we were last year and a key goal was to win a tournament and we have done that now. We haven’t quite hit the levels we wanted to in previous tournaments and we have had a lot of injuries this year but the way they fought and got that win is great. It gives us something to build on going forward.”

Tom Mitchell, England captain said: "I am unbelievably proud of this team. It's a huge effort and we are so grateful to deliver this title.

“Our confidence is always something we are trying to build. I'm glad we stuck to our processes and really believed in what we could do.

“South Africa are an unbelievable team as they have shown all series and we were always going to have to fight to the end."

Try scorer Phil Burgess added: "Luckily I had enough in the tank left. I realised when I got to the 10m line I had to get my head down and work. We caught them a little off guard and it proved to be good enough."



Tournament team

Dan Bibby
Tom Bowen
John Brake
Phil Burgess
Alex Gray
Charlie Hayter
Tom Mitchell, captain
Dan Norton
James Rodwell
Josh Watkins (Worcester Warriors)
Marcus Watson
Jeff Williams