Blitzbokke defeat pits England against Pumas

ENGLAND face Argentina in today’s Cup quarter-final at the World Sevens series in Sydney after finishing second in Pool C.

Following on from their 22-10 win over Spain on day one, England cruised past Papua New Guinea 35-5 but then lost 33-12 to the world champions South Africa.

There was disappointment at the start of day two as Alex Davis was ruled out with an ankle injury sustained against Spain, a game where he scored two tries, with Ryan Olowofela coming into the squad for his World Series debut.

However, England quickly got into their stride against Papua New Guinea with Mitchell, Dan Bibby and Dan Norton crossing in the first half.

Richard de Carpentier and a second from captain Tom Mitchell, who also kicked 20 points, set up the pool decider against South Africa. Ollie Lindsay-Hague opened the scoring for England but theBlitzbokke hit back with three quick tries and Dan Bibby’s try was scant consolation.

Mitchell said: “South Africa are a really strong side and I’m disappointed we gave them a couple of easy scores. But I’m impressed with the way the guys fought, the attitude was spot on.

“We’re looking forward to finishing the tournament strong tomorrow starting off with Argentina and we’ll be focused completely on that tomorrow morning.”

In the other quarterfinals, Fiji take on USA, South Africa face Kenya and Australia will do battle with New Zealand.

Meanwhile England women beat Fiji 29-10 to win the Challenge Trophy and secure a ninth place finish.

England kicked off the pool action with a 28-24 win over USA but then lost to New Zealand and Japan to crash out of the main event.