England miss out on Cup quarter-finals in London 7s
Ireland's Jordan Conroy scores a try against Scotland on day one of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series at Twickenham Stadium in London
©Mike Lee - KLC fotos for World Rugby
South Africa, Fiji and USA remained unbeaten in the opening day of the London leg in the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series but England missed out on the Cup Quarter-finals with a narrow margin.
Olympics Qualification:
With 12 teams in line for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics with hosts Japan gaining automatic qualification. Apart from Japan, the top four teams of the ongoing World Rugby Sevens Series will also qualify with USA, Fiji and New Zealand already sealing the top three places while South Africa are close to claim the fourth spot with England harming their chances with a disappointing London leg. The remaining seven teams will be decided by regional tournaments.
Pool A:
South Africa started their campaign with a resounding 49-0 win over Japan and went on to crush Canada and Argentina with a 45-14 and a 40-21 margin to seal the top place in the group. With both Canada and Argentina beating a winless Japan, the encounter between the two sides was decisive in choosing the second quarter-finalist. In what was a tight encounter, Canada managed to edge out Argentina 12-14 to finish second.
Pool B:
Fiji maintained their stupendous form with 24-17, 31-10 and 26-17 wins over Kenya, France and Samoa with France managing to reach the top eight with 14-22 and 31-17 wins over Samoa and Kenya respectively. Kenya finished third with a solitary while Samoa with three losing points finished at bottom.
Pool C:
In what was a tight group, New Zealand had started with wins over Scotland and Ireland but were pushed hard by England, who registered a 17-12 win. Neverthelss, England's heroics proved in vain as their 17-21 defeat to Ireland in the opening game proved costly as they missed out on the Cup quarter-finals with an inferior points difference while Ireland's 12-43 win over Scotland ensured they went into the top eight along with New Zealand.
Pool D:
USA did no harm to their reputation with 29-5, 28-26 and 19-17 wins over Spain, Wales and Australia respectively. Australia also went into the quarter-finals with 28-10 and 42-12 wins over Wales and Spain respectively while Wales and Spain were left competing in the Challenge Cup.
Quarter-Finals line-up
South Africa v Australia
New Zealand v France
USA v Canada
Fiji v Ireland
