England bounce back to book semi-final spot
ENGLAND face Argentina in today’s semi-finals of the inaugural Spain Sevens in Malaga.
Favourites South Africa – who hammered England 43-0 in the pool stage – play Australia in the other semi, with the Blitzboks hunting their fifth consecutive 7s Series title, having extended their winning streak to 27 matches.
New Zealand are now the only team to have done better, with their record of 47 straight wins from 2007/08.
A young England side featuring six new faces reached the last four thanks to a 12-5 win over a much-fancied France side.
All the scoring came in the first half as Hayden Hyde and Blake Boyland crossed either side of a Joachim Trouabal try, and French resistance finished when Varian Pasquet was sin-binned in the final minute for a high tackle.
England played out a 0-0 draw with Fiji in their first match, followed by a 24-17 win over Scotland before the defeat to South frica.
World Rugby Men’s Sevens player of the year Marcos Moneta was at his sparkling best as Argentina beat Ireland 29-5 in the quarters to set up a clash with England.
South Africa were made to work for a 14-0 victory over Canada that earned the Blitzboks an eighth consecutive semi-final spot.
Canada competed ferociously at the breakdown and had a try disallowed for a knock-on, with no score registered by half time. They continued to frustrate the Blitzboks until the 11th minute, when substitute Ryan Oosthuizen scored in the corner. A handling error led to Justin Geduld’s try at the end of the match, but Canada exited with their heads held high.
Third seeds Australia defeated USA 26-7 in their quarter-final thanks to a scintillating second half showing. Australia started slowly, winning one of their three pool games, and went in level at the break in their quarter-final after Corey Toole’s early try was canceled out by Perry
Baker. But mesmeric footwork from Josh Turner bamboozled the Eagles defence as the Australian danced from the wing to under the posts in the second half, before
Dietrich Roache and Maurice Longbottom pounced on loose passes to make it a comfortable win.
Wales face Fiji in a ninth placed semi-final having lost in the pool to France, Kenya and Canada.
In the women’s tournament, favourites Australia reached the semi-finals with a record-setting 15th consecutive victory to set up a clash with Russia, while France and USA face off in the other semi after enjoying perfect records so far in Malaga.
The Russians had to get past surprise package
Poland, who became the first invitational team since China in April 2018 to reach the quarter-final stages, thanks to a shock pool victory over Canada.
But an inspired hat-trick from Russia’s second alltime top try scorer Alena Tiron and a late Baizat Khamidova score secured a 26-5 Russian victory.
England face Ireland in the fifth place semi-final having lost to France and Rusia and beaten Brazil in the pool stage.
Due to the pandemic, the New Zealand teams were unable to travel to Spain.