England meet their match in final

England’s hopes of achieving Rugby World Cup Sevens glory were ended by New Zealand in San Francisco.

England, inaugural sevens world champions 25 years ago, reached the final at AT&T Park by beating Samoa, the United States and South Africa.

But they met their match in New Zealand, going down to a 33-12 defeat.

New Zealand blasted out of the blocks to go ahead inside the opening minute when Sione Molia showed his pace to outstrip England’s defence and claim a try that Kurt Baker converted.

England could not get out of their own half and Molia punished them with a closerange touchdown and Baker’s conversion opened a 14-point advantage.

England stirred through a well-worked try for Mike Ellery that captain Tom Mitchell converted, but New Zealand always remained a step ahead.

Ruaridh McConnochie gave England hope through a fine solo try early in the second half after Joe Ravouvou crossed for New Zealand, but that was as close as they got.

New Zealand closed out the game in style as Akuila Rokolisoa added his team’s fourth try, converted by Baker, then Trael Joass took his team past 30 points and Scott Curry converted.

England earlier produced a spectacular performance to knock out semi-final opponents South Africa 29-7.

Harry Glover, Mitchell, McConnochie, Ollie LindsayHague and Dan Norton scored tries, with Mitchell adding two conversions.

South Africa won the bronze medal match by defeating Fiji 24-19.