England’s impressive run halted after draw with Russia
The crowd favourites had been in fine form after beating South Africa but were suddenly struck by stage fight
Fans favourites England topped their group after day two of the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens but the enigmatic nature of their season was on show in their last game of the day when they were held to a tie against the previously poor Russians.
The game ended 12-12 and, as that scoreline suggests, it could have gone either way. After rolling highly fancied South Africa on Friday night the trouble the Russians provided Simon Amor’s men was unexpected. And the normally deliriously support England have here was muted to say the least.
England came to Hong Kong seventh in the world series standings after bowing out of contention early in the previous events in Las Vegas and Vancouver, but Amor said that was more down to the long-term plans he has with his squad with tryouts for the Great Britain team heading to Rio.
One of the things we are trying to do with our programme is develop and grow the depth of our squad,” Amor said. “We’ve got to give young guys the opportunity
Young players were preferred in those two rounds and more seasoned sevens players such as returning captain Tom Mitchell and Dan Norton, introduced late against the Russians, have obviously helped the English land now they face a Cup quarter-final on Sunday against Australia.
“One of the things we are trying to do with our programme is develop and grow the depth of our squad,” Amor said. “We’ve got to give young guys the opportunity. We’ve got to throw them on to the world series stage so they can develop and they are going to make some mistakes.
“When we get our main guys up and running we’re a good team, but we have to grow that depth and that’s something we’re trying to do here.”
Saturday was a day the pre-tournament favourites shifted through the gears with two wins to Fiji (57-0 over South Korea and 36-10 over Wales) and New Zealand (a nervy 5-0 over Kenya and 28-10 over Samoa) and a return to form for the South Africans after Friday night’s wake-up call.