England face early exit after shock defeat to Spain
ENGLAND were left needing a miracle win over New Zealand to claim a semifinal berth in the inaugural LA Sevens, after being humbled by Spain in their opening pool match.
A five-try display against Wales steadied England’s wobble, but they were left needing to beat New Zealand convincingly after the Kiwis recorded two wins from two in Pool D.
Three tries in the first half through Dan Norton, skipper Tom Mitchell and Charlton Kerr helped England to rebound, with additional tries from Phil Burgess and Tom Bowen easing them past Wales 3114.
Earlier on day one England were rumbled by Spain in their first match of the day as they began the final two legs of the World Sevens Series before the Tokyo Olympics.
But the players hoping to put up their hand for Team GB selection suffered a setback when Inaki Mateu scored a try after just two minutes.
Pol Pla, the hero last year when Spain caused another huge upset to beat New Zealand in Vancouver, scored his side’s second try just before the break as England struggled to find answers.
After acting head coach James Rodwell had given his half-time pep talk, Mike Ellery brought England back into the contest with a try.
But it failed to energise England and Spain took full advantage with two further tries for Pol Pla to complete his hat-trick and a shock 22-5 win.
Pool rivals New Zealand continued their crusade on the circuit having finished no worse than second in the first three legs of the Series, prior to coming fifth in Sydney last time out.
They came through their match against Wales with ease, winning 42-7 with six different try scorers.
Replacements Ngarohi McGarvey-Black and Sam Dickson added to the tryscoring feats of Etene Nanai-Seturo, Tim Mikkelson, Caleb Clarke and William Warbrick as the match came to its close.
There were also wins for Fiji and South Africa in their first matches on day one at the Dignity Health Sports Park complex in Los Angeles, where the hosts USA were hoping to record a third successive home title.
The Eagles, under head coach Mike Friday had cause for celebration even before day two with speedster Carlin Isles scoring his 200th try in their opening 19-17 win over Samoa.