England off to winning start at SA sevens

Posted on Dec 10, 2010 in Rugby News

Norton strikes twice at Emirates Airline South Africa Sevens

Two Dan Norton tries got England off to a winning start in the pool stages of the Emirates Airline South Africa Sevens in George this morning.

The Bristol wing struck in each half as England beat Russia 19-5 in the second leg of the HSBC Sevens World Series.

England went into the game with 24 points already banked from their triumph at the Emirates Airline Dubai Sevens with the target of recording back-to-back tournament wins for the first time in the world tour’s 11-year history.

But Russia are a rapidly improving force on the sevens scene and in a tough group England were wary of another shock after suffering a 14-12 reverse at the hands of Portugal on day one in Dubai.

England got off to a flier in George with Norton scoring within 40 seconds of the kick-off before the underdogs proved hard to break down until forward Tom Powell powered over immediately before the interval for his first try of the series with Ben Gollings converting.

Norton’s second try and another Gollings conversion opened up a healthy 19-0 lead before Russia got on the board through Vladimir Ostroushko with Nikolay Goroshilov converting.

England face Kenya and New Zealand in the opening day’s other Pool C matches.

England Sevens: Tom Powell, Dan Norton (Bristol Rugby), James Rodwell, Dan Caprice, Ollie Lindsay-Hague (Harlequins), Ben Gollings, Chris Cracknell.

England into quarter finals

England booked their place in the quarter finals with a 21-5 win over Kenya in their second game of the day at the Emirates Airline South Africa Sevens.

They now face New Zealand to see who finishes top of Pool C with South Africa or Argentina the likely opponents tomorrow in the second leg of the HSBC Sevens World Series.

England trailed early on in George against the dangerous Kenyan side to a Gibson Weru Kahuthia try but edged in front before the break after Horace Otieno was sin binned with a try and conversion from captain Ben Gollings.

British Army forward Isoa Damudamu and former Northampton Saints scrum half John Brake struck after the break with two more Gollings conversions securing a comfortable victory.

Earlier Dan Norton’s two tries got England off to a winning start in the pool stages as they beat Russia 19-5.

England went into the game with 24 series points already banked from their triumph at the Emirates Airline Dubai Sevens with the target of recording back-to-back tournament wins for the first time in the world tour’s 11-year history.

But Russia are a rapidly improving force on the sevens scene in a tough group and England were wary of another shock after suffering a 14-12 reverse at the hands of Portugal on day one in Dubai.

Norton, a Tom Powell effort and two Gollings conversions opened up a 19-0 lead before Russia got on the board through Vladimir Ostroushko with Nikolay Goroshilov converting.

Wales are also assured of a place in the quarter finals after impressive opening Pool A victories against Australia (33-15) and Scotland (19-7).

England Sevens v Russia: Tom Powell, Dan Norton (Bristol Rugby), James Rodwell, Dan Caprice, Ollie Lindsay-Hague (Harlequins), Ben Gollings, Chris Cracknell.

England Sevens v Kenya: Isoa Damudamu (British Army), Greg Barden (Royal Navy), Dan Norton (Bristol Rugby), James Rodwell, John Brake, Dan Caprice, Ben Gollings.

England 7s make one change for World Series openers

Posted on Nov 12, 2010 in Rugby News

England Sevens make just one change to their side for the first two legs of the HSBC Sevens World Series.

Ollie Lindsay-Hague (Harlequins) comes into the 12-man squad in place of Kevin Barrett (Saracens) for the Emirates Airline Dubai and South Africa Sevens tournaments.

England take the field in Dubai on December 3-4 and in George on December 10-11, the first two of the eight tournaments this season.

The remaining 11 players in head coach Ben Ryan’s squad appeared at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi last month, when England beat Australia and world champions Samoa but were edged into fourth place by South Africa in the bronze medal match.

The side is led by Sevens legend Ben Gollings, the 30-year-old playmaker who will be looking to add to his world record Series haul of 2,374 points.

Ryan said: “Ollie did well for us last year, particularly at Hong Kong and has been going well for Quins this season. He deserves his chance and will add a bit of an X-factor to the side.

“I’m really plased to be able to keep the squad together and only be making one change going into Dubai, and although every side wants to make a strong start to the HSBC Sevens World Series we’ve got a good chance.

“We’ve reached two semis and a final there in the last three years so we’ve been in the mix and there’s always huge support there for England and a really vibrant atmosphere.”

England take on Fiji, France and Portugal in Pool D on the opening day at Dubai with the pool winners likely to face Australia or South Africa in the quarter finals.

At George, England are in Pool C with Commonwealth Games gold medallists New Zealand, Kenya and Russia.

England Sevens squad
Greg Barden (Royal Navy)
John Brake (England Sevens)
Dan Caprice (England Sevens)
Chris Cracknell (England Sevens)
Isoa Damudamu (British Army)
Ben Gollings (England Sevens)
Simon Hunt (Birmingham & Solihull)
Ollie Lindsay-Hague (Harlequins)
Dan Norton (Bristol Rugby)
Tom Powell (England Sevens)
James Rodwell (England Sevens)
Mathew Turner (England Sevens)

HSBC Sevens World Series dates
December 3-4: Emirates Airline Dubai Sevens
December 10-11: Emirates Airline South Africa Sevens, George
February 4-5: NZI Sevens, Wellington
February 12-13: USA Sevens, Las Vegas
March 25-27: Cathay Pacific Credit Suisse Hong Kong Sevens
April 2-3: International Rugby Sevens Adelaide
May 21-22: Emirates Airline London Sevens
May 28-29: Emirates Airline Edinburgh Sevens

England Sevens win South Africa plate

Posted on Dec 14, 2009 in Rugby News

England beat South Africa 21-7 to win the plate at the Emirates Airline South Africa Sevens.

It was only the second time England had beaten the Boks in sevens on South African soil in what was a hyper-competitive plate competition.

England had to bounce back from their cup loss against winners New Zealand to beat Australia 24-5 in the plate semi final.

The last time an England side had beaten a South Africa side on their home patch was in 2003, but with Christian Wade (London Wasps), Worcester’s Jake Abbott, Ben Gollings (Gold Coast) and Isoa Damudamu (British Army) in inspired form Ben Ryan’s side ground out an impressive win, the biggest defeat Paul Treu’s side had faced in 80 matches.

England add 12 points to their World Series tally which puts them in third place behind Fiji and New Zealand respectively after reaching the Dubai cup semi final earlier this month.

England: Jake Abbott (Worcester Warriors), Kevin Barrett (capt, Saracens), Chris Brightwell (Birmingham & Solihull), Dan Caprice (Blackheath RFC), Chris Cracknell (Unattached), Isoa Damudamu (British Army), Ben Gollings (Gold Coast, Australia), Dan Norton (Bristol Rugby), James Rodwell (Moseley RFC), Nick Royle (Fylde RFC), Matt Turner (Bristol Rugby), Christian Wade (London Wasps)

England Sevens Emirates Airline South Africa Sevens results:

• December 11, England 42-0 Tunisia
• December 11, England 17-7 Argentina
• December 11, Scotland 19-29 England
• December 12, cup quarter final England 19-22 New Zealand
• December 12, plate semi final England 24-5 Australia
• December 12, plate final England 21-7 South Africa

Barrett called to captain England Sevens

Posted on Dec 1, 2009 in Rugby News

Kevin Barrett has been named captain for the Emirates Airline Dubai and South Africa Sevens (Dec 4-5 & 11-12).

After helping his club Saracens beat World Champions South Africa, 24-23 last month, the England scrum half will take the lead from last season’s IRB Sevens Player of the Year Ollie Phillips (Stade Francais).

Last season Barrett also helped England to win the cup trophies at the Wellington and London legs of the IRB Sevens World Series.

This Friday England will take on Russia, USA and Kenya on day one and Barrett is looking forward to leading his team to the field.

“I’m really excited. Ben (Ryan) gave me the news the other day and I felt very privileged but we have lots of leaders in this team like Ben Gollings (Gold Coast), Chris Cracknell, Isoa Damudamu (British Army) and James Rodwell (Moseley RFC) so I’m hoping I can call on all of them.” said Barrett.

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Scotland getting continuity in sevens squad says Gemmell

Posted on Nov 26, 2009 in Rugby News

The IRB Sevens World Series gets underway next weekend in Dubai before moving onto George in South Africa, so today, Scotland 7s coach Stephen Gemmell announced a strong and well prepared squad for the opening tournament of the season.

“There’s some continuity in our squad now. We’ve got Scott Forrest, Mike Adamson and Colin Shaw who have sevens as their main competition.

“It’s nice to have that backbone and also having Hefin O’Hare and Andrew Turnbull involved in the squad who were in London and Edinburgh last season. That’s five players there who have been involved in consecutive semi-finals.”

There are six new caps in the squad, among which are Bath scrum-half Mike Baxter, Sale Sharks back-rower David Tait and Glasgow’s formidable ball carrying flanker James Eddie.

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