Hong Kong Sevens opens with recordbreaking try
HONG KONG: England’s Dan Norton hailed the “amazing feeling” of scoring a recordbreaking try on the opening night of the Hong Kong Sevens Friday as the world’s top teams returned to the home of the sport in spectacular style.
The 28-year-old winger touched down his 245th try as England steamrollered past South Korea 52-0 to become the all-time leading try scorer in world sevens – one ahead of Kenya’s Collins Injera who did not score as Kenya went down to Canada 17-14.
Norton paid tribute to his teammates following his historic try underneath the posts after he was brought on as a substitute.
“It was an amazing feeling, it was hard with the record in sight to try and control my brain coming into it,” said the winger, who made his England debut in 2009 and also starred in Great Britain’s Olympic campaign last year, when they lost in the final to a rampant Fiji.
“I’ve got some fond memories of playing here, we’ve hit a few finals here, I scored my 200th (try) here last year.”
He added: “It’s an amazing stadium – it’s the home of rugby sevens isn’t it – so really nice to do it here in this amazing atmosphere.”
England, who lie second in the standings behind South Africa, are chasing their first win in Hong Kong since 2006 when coach Simon Amor was still in his playing days.
Amor hailed the winger as “world class”, adding it would be “fascinating” in the coming tournaments to see the battle play out between Norton and Injera for the record.
He added: “The exciting thing for Dan is he’s still got a few years left in him so he can get even better.”
Australia edged past a powerful Samoa side in a narrow 22-19 win, with the Pacific islanders under former New Zealand coach Gordon Tietjens. — AFP