Leading try-scorers Dan Norton and Mathew Turner both touched down for England but they conceded four against the 2010 HSBC Sevens World Series champions.

England had begun the day with a 26-7 win over the USA and the Samoa result leaves them needing a win from their final Pool A match against Argentina (17.54 GMT) to make certain a quarter final place at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth.

Paul Perez and Afa Aiaono struck in the first half for Samoa, who had beaten England at the Gold Coast Sevens a fortnight earlier, before Turner sprinted down the right to score with Marcus Watson converting.

Conceding possession and missing a tackle immediately after the interval let Aiaono in for a second try before Norton then struck from long-range to give England a chance at 19-14 down.

But they were hit by another Samoa try from a scrum on their own 22 with Faalemiga Selesele finishing things off.

Earlier England had opened their account against the USA with tries from James Rodwell, Watson, Turner and substitute Nick Royle, Watson adding three conversions.

Rodwell opened the scoring following Isoa Damudamu’s assist then Zach Test responded to level for the Eagles and England were forced to defend for long spells before the break.

In the second half they increased the pressure and tempo, Damudamu forcing the error that gifted Watson a second score before Turner struck following his own neat chip down the right touchline.

Substitute wing Royle picked off an interception for England’s fourth try to complete the victory.

Head coach Ben Ryan keeps faith with the 12-man group with forward Chris Brightwell the 13th man who can be called on if England suffer any injuries during the tournament.

Half-back John Brake is still side-lined by the broken finger sustained on the eve of the Gold Coast Sevens in Australia a fortnight ago.

England, second in the HSBC Sevens World Series rankings, face the USA (10.21 GMT), Samoa (13.27) and Argentina (17.54) in three tough Pool A encounters on the opening day.

Ryan is pleased with the commitment he’s seen in training with his players all fighting for places in the starting line-up.

"We’re in a good situation because of the competition within the squad," he said.

"We used the same starting side in all six games in Dubai. They’ve been playing against our reserves and there’s been a real cutting edge in training.

"No-one thinks they’re God’s gift and everyone wants to start. We all know it’s one last tournament and we’ll give it everything and then have our rest over Christmas.

"The group we’re in will take any chance of complacency away. Samoa, Argentina and the USA are all sides who have beaten us in the past three years.

"Everybody will want to have a crack at us now but we think we’re on an upward curve. We need to be consistent and that means performing well at lots of tournaments."

This is the first time three tournaments have been played back-to-back in the World Series and when England return home on December 12 they will have travelled more than 33,000 miles on 10 separate flights across a dozen time zones in less than four weeks.

Ryan said: "The boys were pretty fatigued after the [Dubai] tournament, then by travelling for 17 hours to Port Elizabeth, so lots have been stretched on the treatment table and massaged but all in all they’ve handled it pretty well and I’m sure we’ll be at full throttle on Friday."

England Sevens XII: Greg Barden (captain), Chris Cracknell, Isoa Damudamu (British Army), Simon Hunt, Christian Lewis-Pratt, Dan Norton, Tom Powell, James Rodwell, Nick Royle, Mathew Turner, Rob Vickerman, Marcus Watson (Saracens)

Geordan Murphy is named at full back with Tommy Bowe and Keith Earls completing the back three combination.  Jonathan Sexton and Conor Murray start an international together for the first time as the half backs, while centre Gordon D’Arcy will be winning his 60th cap.

The team will be captained by Brian O’Driscoll.

Ireland XV
15 – Geordan Murphy (Leicester Tigers)
14 – Tommy Bowe (Ospreys)*
13 – Brian O’Driscoll (UCD/Leinster) Captain
12 – Gordon D’Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster)
11 – Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster)*
10 – Jonathan Sexton (St.Mary’s College/Leinster)*
9 – Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster)*
1 – Tom Court (Malone/Ulster)*
2 – Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster)
3 – Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster)*
4 – Donncha O’Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster)
5 – Paul O’Connell (Young Munster/Munster)
6 – Stephen Ferris (Dungannon/Ulster)*
7 – Shane Jennings (St.Mary’s College/Leinster)*
8 – Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster)*

Replacements:
16 – Jerry Flannery (Shannon/Munster)
17 – Tony Buckley (Sale Sharks)*
18 – Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster)*
19 – Denis Leamy (Cork Constitution/Munster)
20 – Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
21 – Ronan O’Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)
22 – Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster)

*Denotes Rugby World Cup debut

Australia v Italy (Auckland, Sunday 11th 04:30 GMT)

A proud sporting nation with a terrific World Cup record, Australia will be hoping to put things straight after a shock quarter final exit in 2007. A convincing win for the Tri Nations champions would lay down the gauntlet to the Irish and should give the Wallabies the momentum to top the pool and hopefully avoid the South Africans in the quarter finals. Italy though have never reached the quarter finals, and feeling is that they’ll target the Ireland game rather than this one. However Italy have given Australia a few scares in past Autumn Internationals, and if they can get the better of the Australian pack and put in the defensive performance of their lives then they could make history. Big ifs though.

Prediction: Australia to win reasonably comfortably.

Ireland v USA (New Plymouth, Sunday 11th 07:00 GMT)

Former Ireland coach Eddie O’Sullivan will hope his USA Eagles side puts in a performance that makes his former employers stand up and notice. His Ireland team struggled against the minnows fours ago and he wouldn’t mind a similar thing happening to his successors team. This will be an incredibly emotional day for the American players as this game will be played on the ten year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, and this emotion could very well inspire the Americans into producing a once in a lifetime performance. However even with all the emotion and sentiment Ireland should still win comfortably. They went into the 2007 tournament with high expectations and fell flat on their faces, and after a winless summer warm up period they will be desperate not to let history repeat itself. When’/if Ireland produce a massive lead expect both teams to make mass substitutions as Ireland will want to conserve strength ahead of the Australia clash, and the USA will do likewise ahead of the more winnable game against Russia on Thursday.

Prediction: Ireland to win comfortably.

Russia v USA (New Plymouth, Thursday 15th 08.30 GMT)

Arguably the most eagerly awaited of all the minnow v minnow clashes. The Cold War may have ended twenty years ago, but Russo-American sporting clashes still remain fiery affairs. This will be Russia’s first ever World Cup match and beating the USA is the perfect way to celebrate it. The USA have the disadvantage of going into this game only four days after playing Ireland, but will be hoping that their experience of the big stage will see them through. Whoever wins this game will throw the kitchen sink at Italy in the hope of automatic qualification for 2015.

Prediction: Depends how the USA recover from the Ireland game but imagine Russia will win a close affair.

Prop forward Healy had suffered an injury to his eye during the final warm up game against England and it was decided following the match that it would be better to allow the injury to settle before undertaking the long distance commute to New Zealand.  Centre D’Arcy was a late withdrawal from the travelling party on the very day the team left Dublin after he picked up a calf strain during a recovery session that morning with the medical team feeling it was also the best option to delay his departure.

Healy said, "It was a strange feeling watching the lads meet up in Dublin airport and then waving goodbye to them, but there was also a little sense of comfort for me knowing that I would at least be following them out a couple of days later.  I was getting mentally prepared for doing the journey by myself, but I got the news that Gordon (D’Arcy) pulled up with a calf injury, so I guess there was a sense of relief for both of us that we would still be travelling.

"Talking to some of the squad, they seem to have settled in really well and combined training with some time to relax and get involved in the whole spirit of the tournament.  It’s good to get that down time before we pick the pace up this week, so I think the intensity will start to rise now another couple of notches as we look forward to the USA game.

"The injury has come on fine over the last couple of days and the medical team has been keeping a good watch over it, so I’m just really excited to be finally here and get the chance to get back on the field."

D’Arcy was also enthusiastic about finally touching down in Queenstown and getting going in the tournament. "Queenstown looks incredible and I know the rest of the lads have been enjoying the experience so far. We flew in to a little less fanfare then the squad received, but that’s a small price to pay for just getting the chance to be here and start thinking about our first game against the USA.

"There was a terrible sense of dread for me when the calf tightened up that morning and there was a couple of anxious hours before the scans came through and showed that it was not too bad and that it would not rule me out of the tournament. My focus now is to get it right and get on the field to put myself in contention for selection as soon as possible."

The rest of the Ireland squad had their final down day before stepping up preparations for their opening game against the USA Eagles in New Plymouth.  There was no further injury news to report, with both Rob Kearney and Sean O’Brien showing no ill effects from their respective groin and knee injuries and took part in the majority of the Ireland training session yesterday.

England Women opened their Nations Cup campaign with a hard fought 15-11 victory over the USA on Tuesday night at Appleby College in Ontario, Canada, with only an extra-time try sealing the win.

The defending champions and Six Nations title holders banked the victory thanks to tries from skipper Katy McLean, Vice-captain Margaret Alphonsi and Richmond lock Rowena Burnfield, who scored the crucial match winning try in the 87^th minute.

The USA pushed England all the way and a try from Victoria Folayan and two penalties from centre Pam Kosanke kept their charge going as they led 11-10 in the dying minutes of the game.

In a new look England line-up, which saw Victoria Fleetwood, Laura Keates, Kay Wilson, Jenny Brightmore, Natasha Hunt and Sarah McKenna all making their debuts, England did however dominate much of the match but also squandered several try scoring opportunities.

Street said: “The importance of this tournament was evident in this match with the physicality and pressure from the USA. It is a different challenge to the Six Nations so it is vital for the development of some of our younger and less experienced players.

“Introducing six new caps to international rugby will bear fruit in the future and we showed great maturity to win the game late on. We will get better as the tournament progresses and we look forward to playing South Africa on Friday.”

With the Eagles kicking off the game Wasps’ Joanne McGilchrist took the ball nicely and McLean kicked well for territory and the backs chased well. Lichfield centre Emily Scarratt hit some great lines in the early stages of the game but the USA backs defended well and their line speed was good to close down a lot of what England were trying to do. Richmond lock Becky Essex also came close to scoring after ten minutes with a great line break but England were unable to score from it.

Fly-half McLean then had the chance to put England’s first points on the board with a 12^th minute penalty, but she couldn’t make the score and although fullback Danielle Waterman showed some great feet and creativity heading straight back at the USA on the counter attack again England couldn’t break the USA’s line.

England’s patience paid off though and some more impressive footwork by Waterman from England’s 22 and some superb support by wing Fran Matthews saw England finally break the deadlock with McLean scoring in the corner on 24 minutes. McLean, however, couldn’t add the conversion.

America clawed their way back to 5-3 with Pam Kosanke adding a 32^nd minute penalty and they could have in fact taken the lead moments later with a second penalty, but to England’s relief the ball went wide.

The USA took control of the game in the second-half with their one and only try of the game. Wing Folayan took the ball nicely from a kick and some strong running, where she evaded a handful of tackles, saw her score. Kosanke missed the conversion but the USA took the 8-5 lead on 48 minutes.

England managed to turn the tables on America though with flanker Alphonsi at the heart of the action, scoring England’s second try on her 55^th cap, although with McLean missing the conversion England only led 10-8.

England’s lead was short-lived though and some careless errors, including being off-side, handed the USA the chance to go ahead with a 56^th minute penalty. With Kosanke converting, they did, and led 11-10.

England were far from down and out though and threw everything they had at the USA in attempt to retake the lead. A fired-up Amy Garnett, making her 97^th appearance for England, took a quick tap penalty, passing the ball to Claire Allan who battled her way against the Eagles’ defensive line. A superbly placed kick from McLean handed England a lineout in USA’s 22, but again the points didn’t come.

The USA, however, buckled under the pressure with Sarah Chobot showed the yellow card for persistent foul play on 73 minutes leaving England with a one-man advantage.

England went close another two times, but again couldn’t break the try line, and McLean also missed a late penalty attempt. The Red Roses didn’t give up though and after a period of sustained pressure which saw several scrums on America’s line, lock Burnfield finally broke through, powering her way over the try-line to score in the last play of the game. With McLean missing the conversion England took the 15-11 victory.

England next play South Africa on Friday at 930pm BST. Nations Cup match action is available at www.womensnationscup.com

England Head Coach Gary Street, whose side are the defending Nations Cup champions and go into the tournament on the back of a sixth successive RBS 6 Nations title win, has named six new caps in his 22, including three in the starting line-up.

Worcester prop Rochelle Clark will be the experienced head in a new look front row with both Lichfield’s Victoria Fleetwood and Worcester’s Laura Keates getting their first starts for England at hooker and tight-head prop respectively. Richmond’s Kay Wilson will also make her England debut on the wing. Richmond duo Alice Richardson and Claire Allan, meanwhile, will also mark their return to international XVs rugby in nearly a year with Richardson starting at centre and Allan on the bench.

Darlington Mowden Park Sharks’ Katy McLean will once again captain England with Margaret Alphonsi as vice captain.

Street said: “This competition is an ideal opportunity to develop new combinations and introduce new caps at international level. All six of our new caps are in this 22 for the first game and a new challenge of playing the USA is really important in their overall development programme. We’ll be looking over the first two games to give a good amount of game time to all of the squad and I’m looking forward to seeing the players stepping up to the challenge.

“The USA are one of the best sides in the world and always present a fully committed and physical challenge. With a new coaching set-up we are not sure what to expect of them but we are excited at the prospect of this match.”

Nations Cup match action is available at www.womensnationscup.com

England

15        Danielle         Waterman     (Worcester)

14        Francesca     Matthews       (Richmond)

13        Emily  Scarratt          (Lichfield)

12        Alice   Richardson   (Richmond)

11        Kay     Wilson            (Richmond)

10        Katy    McLean          (Darlington Mowden Park) (C)

9          La Toya          Mason            (Wasps)

1          Rochelle        Clark   (Worcester)

2          Victoria           Fleetwood     (Lichfield)

3          Laura  Keates            (Worcester)

4          Rebecca        Essex(Richmond)

5          Tamara          Taylor(Darlington Mowden Park)

6          Joanna          McGilchrist    (Wasps)

7          Margaret        Alphonsi        (Saracens) VC

8          SarahHunter            (Lichfield)

Replacements:                               

16        Amy    Garnett           (Saracens)

17        Sophie           Hemming      (Bristol)

18        Rowena         Burnfield       (Richmond)

19        Jennifer         Brightmore    (Worcester)

20        Natasha         Hunt   (Lichfield)

21        SarahMcKenna       (Old Albanians)

22        ClaireAllan   (Richmond)

England Nations Cup playing schedule (Appleby College, Ontario):

August 2^nd USA v England KO 1130pm BST

August 5^th South Africa v England KO 930pm BST

August 9^th Canada v England KO 1130pm

August 13^th Finals Day KO TBC

England ran in a massive 12 tries with Hannah Gallagher, Georgia Peedle and Alexandra Matthews claiming braces of tries. South Africa, however, became the first team in the tournament to put any points on England with fullback Phindile Mtshali claiming their one and only try.

Now England will face the Eagles on Saturday hoping to repeat their earlier victory over the USA in the tournament which saw England running out 37-0 winners.

England U20s Head Coach Amanda Bennett said: “Naturally we are delighted to be in the Nations Cup final and winning three from three games has generated huge confidence in the squad.  We put 66 points on a South African team that quite simply did not give up. They chased and tackled to the final whistle and forced us into several errors, not least tactical mistakes.

“There is as much to be learned from this game as the wins over Canada and the USA. We competed very well at the scrum but still need to show more composure when faced with try scoring opportunities.

“We will prepare for the final against the USA with a more clinical approach to ball retention and use of space. Despite the score lines no game has been easy this year and we will certainly expect the USA to be at full tilt on Saturday.

“There are also a number of selection dilemmas as so many players have put in strong individual performances but, as a coach, this is a great position to be in.”

In a physical game which England generally dominated the Red Roses showed good discipline and patience to score their 12 tries. It took just two minutes for Gallagher, who continues her run of scoring in every England U20s game this season, to register her first try.

South Africa were penalised with a penalty for holding on and a quick tap penalty by scrum half Charlotte Keane saw her set-up the Saracens flanker to drive over and score.    Fly half Emily Scott couldn’t make the conversion.

The Springboks immediately bounced back with a seventh minute try of their own thanks to full back Mtshali which was converted by fly half Mpho Moloto handing South Africa a 7-5 lead after as many minutes.

England, however, reasserted their dominance on 21 minutes with Bristol centre Amy Wilson Hardy making her mark. No. 10 Scott helped set-up the score with a nice pass to Wilson Hardy who flew through South Africa’s defence to score relatively unopposed. This time Scott added the conversion to hand England a 12-7 lead.

No. 8 Poppy Cleall claimed England’s third try with a typical forwards move with saw her crash over the try line after a period of sustained pressure, with Georgia Peedle then adding another try to make the score 22-7. Two further tries for Lucy Demaine and Scott put England into a comfortable 34-7 lead at half time.

After the break South Africa struggled to combat a forceful England, with the tries coming in thick and fast.

London Irish’s Matthews, who had an excellent game coming off the bench, scored within three minutes of being on the pitch. After some more sustained pressure by England Scott made the move and passed the ball out to No. 8 Matthews who stepped inside South Africa’s defence to score.  

Rebecca Hughes then added England’s eighth touchdown. A good scrum and then some good handling by the entire England backline saw Hughes score, which was quickly followed by a 60^th Fiona Davidson try.

Gallagher’s second try came in the 75^th minute when Matthews broke through the midfield. She was tackled but Gallagher was in support and she scored under the posts extending England’s lead to 56-7.

Matthews was then back in the thick of the action with her second touchdown as she picked the ball up from the base of the scrum and broke through a number of tackles to score.

Worcester wing Georgia Peedle had the final word for England with a 79^th minute try and her second making the final score 66-7.

Match action from the Nations Cup is available on http://www.ustream.tv/usarugby.

The Saracens hooker, who has 96 caps and has competed in three Rugby World Cups, replaces Richmond’s Emma Croker who has withdrawn from the squad.

England Head Coach Gary Street said: “It is fantastic that we can call upon someone of Amy’s calibre into the squad. This will be a tough and physical tournament and her wealth of experience will bring much to our campaign. I know that Amy will be as determined as ever to put all her efforts into helping England defend their Nations Cup title.”

England will play Canada, the USA and South Africa over the 11 day tournament.

England Nations Cup Squad

Claire Allan (Richmond)

Margaret Alphonsi (Saracens)

Rowena Burnfield (Richmond)

Rochelle Clark (Worcester)

Rebecca Essex (Richmond)

Heather Fisher (Worcester)

Amy Garnett (Saracens)

VictoriaFleetwood (Lichfield)

Sophie  Hemming (Bristol)

Natasha Hunt (Lichfield)

Sarah Hunter (Lichfield)

Laura Keates (Worcester)

Jane Leonard (Wasps)

La ToyaMason (Wasps)

Francesca Matthews (Richmond)

Joanna  McGilchrist (Wasps)

Sarah McKenna (Old Albanians)

Katy McLean (Darlington Mowden Park)

Katherine Merchant (Worcester)

Claire Purdy (Wasps)

Alice Richardson (Richmond)

Georgina Roberts (Darlington Mowden Park)

Emily Scarratt (Lichfield)

TamaraTaylor (Darlington Mowden Park)

Danielle Waterman (Worcester)

Kay Wilson (Richmond)

England Nations Cup playing schedule (Appleby College, Toronto):

August 2^nd USA v England KO 1130pm BST

August 5^th South Africa v England KO 930pm BST

August 9^th Canada v England KO 1130pm

August 13^th Finals Day

TODD CLEVER lifted the Churchill Cup Bowl at Sixways to give the US Eagles a boost ahead of their Rugby World Cup showdown with Russia.

After a shocking start to their Churchill campaign – heavy defeats to England Saxons and Tonga – they salvaged a victory from this afternoon’s victory, courtesy of a try nine minutes from time by Tai Enosa.

US Eagles fly half and man-of-the-match Nese Malifa said: “We knew Russia were going to come out hard and that we had to take the fight to them. Hats off to the boys – it was a big day at the office.”

The teams will meet in New Plymouth, New Zealand on September 15 and Russian boss Kingsley Jones admitted: “If we could have kept hold of the ball more we could have won. USA were smarter than us at the breakdown. We are taking two steps forward and one step back but we need to take the positives out of this tournament.”

Yury Kushnarev and Malifa traded early penalties in an even first 20 minutes before the USA No 10 put a second chance wide.

The Eagles made several breaks and they eventually got through after Andrew Suniula brushed off five tacklers before being hauled down short of the line. The ball was recycled and Malifa sent Paul Emerick over.

Russia hit back to level the scores at 8-8 with a try from Vladimir Ostroushko after taking Kushnarev’s miss pass after a solid scrum platform put the Eagles under pressure.

And the Bears almost scored the try from the end of Sixways when they counter attacked from in front of their own posts and, 80 metres later, only a knock-on prevented the score.        

The Russians, intent on keeping the ball in hand, spurned a penalty chance to go for touch but their endeavour was not matched by their ability to win the subsequent line-out and the chance was lost.

Kushnarev and Malifa added another penalty apiece before Russia grabbed their second try when Igo Klyuchnikov made the break, Ostroushko jinked his way closer down the wing and Alexander Voytov trundled in from Alexander Sahkirov’s pass.

Malifa kept the Eagles in touch when he created a try for Suniula, who checked and sped to the line and it was all USA as Clever intercepted the ball in a flat Russian back line move to race 70 metres and score to put them 25-18 up.

But the Russians weren’t out of it and Vasily Artemyev stepped inside and burrowed over for Kushnarev to convert and level the scores.

USA had a chance from halfway to edge ahead but Clever opted for the lineout which crumbled but they kept up the pressure and Blaine Scully insitigated the counter attack for Emerick and Suniula to combine and send Enosa over.

USA: B Scully; C Hawley (T Enosa 59), P Emerick, A Suniula, K Swiryn;  N Malifa, M Petri (T Usasz 62); M Moeakiola (E Fry 68), P Thiel, S Pittman, J Van der Giessen, S Lavalla, I Basauri (N Johnson 62), T Clever (capt), L Stanfill (P Danahy 78). Reps (not used): C Biller, R Suniula.

Scorers: Tries: Emerick, Suniula, Clever, Enosa; Pens: Malifa (2); Cons: Malifa (3).

Russia:I Klyuchnikov; V Artemyev, M Babaev, A Makovetsky, V Ostroushko;  Y Kushnarev, A Shakirov; S Popov, V Korshunov (capt), I Prishchepenko, A Voytov, D Antonov, A Temnov, A Garbuzov (V Gresev 36-40, A Panasenko 62), V Grachev (Gresev 50). Reps (not used): V Tsnobiladze, A Chernyshev, A Bykanov, A Ryabov, I Galinovsky.

Scorers: Tries: Ostroushko, Voytov, Artemyev; Pens: Kushnarev (2); Cons: Kushnarev (2).

Referee: D Pearson (RFU)