BY St George, England certainly lived up to their reputation as world sevens champions yesterday, breezing into the Cup competition on their debut at the Hong Kong Sevens.
That reputation will be hard to uphold, however, as they face Australia, in the quarter-finals today, and if they win (a big IF), they should come up against one of the tournament favourites, Fiji.
In the other half of the draw, New Zealand look set to ease their way into the final. The defending champions played in first gear yesterday.
Rest assured they will turn on the style today, especially the big and powerful Jonah Lomu, the man armed with the most awesome of hand-offs.
Despite the novelty of seeing the English rose, an Australian side who scored tries as if it was going out of fashion and two representatives each from Africa (Namibia and South Africa) and the South Pacific (Western Samoa and Tonga) in the Cup competition today - it all points to another Fiji v New Zealand finale.
Even a die-hard Englishman like Tony Underwood agrees. The England international, who is here on a 'working holiday' admitted that Fiji and New Zealand will be hard to beat. 'The Kiwis are the most disciplined and the Fijians have the speed and the style. It is hard to see anyone beating these two teams.' Both favourites were rather subdued yesterday. The fireworks will begin today.
