England sevens get a good start with win over Sri Lanka

Posted on Oct 11, 2010 in Rugby News

James Rodwell’s hat-trick set England on the way to a 59-7 win over minnows Sri Lanka on the opening morning of the Commonwealth Games Sevens in Delhi.

The 2006 silver medallists breezed through their first Pool D game by scoring nine tries to register the biggest total of the day so far.

The try treble from former Moseley forward Rodwell was backed up by Ben Gollings, the Sevens world record points scorer, who touched down twice and converted seven of England’s tries for a 24-point haul.

There were two tries from Saracens scrum half Kevin Barrett and one apiece from the Army’s Isoa Damudamu and Kent wing Dan Caprice. Sri Lanka’s consolation came from Anuradha Sooriyabandara.

England face Uganda and Australia in today’s remaining pool games.

Elsewhere, Wales opened their account in Pool B with a 56-7 win over hosts India, Lee Williams and Tom Prydie both touching down twice, while Scotland beat Guyana 26-0 in Pool A with Lee Jones scoring a hat-trick.

England: Isoa Damudamu, Greg Barden, James Rodwell, Dan Norton, Dan Caprice, Kevin Barrett, Ben Gollings.

Replacements: Tom Powell, Simon Hunt, Mathew Turner, John Brake, Chris Cracknell.

Scorers: Tries: Rodwell 3, Barrett 2, Gollings 2, Caprice, Damudamu. Conversions: Gollings 7.

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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Borthwick returns for Sarries at Worcester

Posted on Nov 26, 2009 in Rugby News

Saracens travel to Sixways on Friday night looking to make it nine wins from nine in the Guinness Premiership and welcome back captain Steve Borthwick to the starting line-up.

Borthwick returns from international duty to start against Worcester Warriors with Chris Wyles (USA) and Moses Rauluni (Fiji) also back from action with their respective countries to be in the Saracens squad. In the only other change from Sunday’s win over Wasps, Richard Haughton returns to the wing.

“We know that going to Sixways is always a tough test,” said Defence and Forwards Coach Paul Gustard. “They have some very good players in the likes of Chris Latham, Sam Tuitupou, Pat Sanderson and others. They also have a very strong forward pack so we know we are in for a tough game. But the guys are really looking forward to the challenge and they know that we have to increase our effort levels week on week to keep getting the results we want.

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