English flier Dan Norton writes his name into Sevens folklore with try in Korea romp
Winger becomes sport’s leading try-scorer as he goes over for his 245th effort moving clear of Kenya’s Collins Injera
The look on Dan Norton’s face was a mixture of joy and relief as the Englishman wrote his name into the annals of sevens history on Friday night as he became the game’s all-time try scorer.
For the moment at least.
The try – at 2.32 of the second half as England swept past South Korea 52-0 – moved Norton to 245, and ahead of Kenya’s Collins Injera (244), who is also here at the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens and, like Norton, is capable of anything on his day.
So the battle between the two will continue to play out this weekend, and the HSBC Sevens World Series plays out.
It was a kick forward and a collect that did it for Norton, and his teammates rushed to celebrate with their star.
“It was an amazing feeling,” said the 29-year-old winger. “It was always hard with the record in sight to try to control my brain coming into it. Everybody is talking about it and obviously there are well-wishers with family and friends back home.
“The main thing was to concentrate on my process and what got me here in the first place and has got me to my 60-odd tournaments. So, yeah, it was nice to get it out of the way early and get over the line and get the cheers out of the way. Onwards and upwards and on with the tournament and hopefully we can get ourselves in a good position.”