Successful First Day in Hong Kong
Following comfortable wins against China and then Japan, England held of a fightback from World Champions Wales to win all three of their pool matches at the Hong Kong leg of the iRN World Seven Series. Navy winger Josh Drauniniu (CTCRM) was amongst the tries in the first two matches and though he missed out against Wales was still a key player for England. Match reports courtesy of RFU.com: England 26 - 19 Wales England enter the cup competition undefeated after beating the Rugby World Cup Sevens champions Wales in their last pool match at the Cathay Pacific/Credit Suisse Hong Kong Sevens (March 27-29). England scored four unanswered tries in the first half with Isoa Damudamu, Kevin Barrett, Ollie Phillips and Chris Cracknell all crossing over. England’s first try came from a break by Tom Varndell up the left wing that eventually found Damu for him to score in the right corner, Phillips failed to convert and within the first minute England were 5-0 ahead. Some good defending by Josh Drauniniu stopped Wales in their tracks and an England lineout ball found Varndell who again made a break up the left wing. Varndell threw a reverse flick pass to Drauniniu that finally found Barrett who fought off two defenders to go over, Phillips converted to take the score to 12-0. A knock-on at the restart gave England possession and Barrett passed out to Phillips who potted his own chip and chase and also converted to take the scores to 19-0. A run from inside Wales’ half saw Cracknell fly over for England’s last try of the half after some good passing from Drauniniu and Rob Vickerman. The score at the break was 26-0. Wales came back fighting in the second half and after England were penalised for holing on at a ruck Wales made a break up the left wing to score their first try and conversion. They scored a second after the restart and converted to take the score to 26-12. Tom Biggs had England’s only scoring opportunity of the half running from inside Wales’ 22 but was caught short of the line. Wales had the last say with a sweeping run up-field to score the last try of the match ending 26-19. England will face Fiji in the cup quarter final tomorrow (Sunday) at 1.37pm local time, GMT +8. England: Isoa Damudamu (British Army/London Wasps), Rob Vickerman (Leeds Carnegie), Josh Drauniniu (Royal Navy/Exeter Chiefs), Tom Varndell (Leicester Tigers), Ollie Phillips (Newcastle Falcons), Kevin Barrett (Exeter Chiefs), Chris Cracknell (Exeter Chiefs). Replacements: Dan Caprice (Saracens), Tom Biggs (Leeds Carnegie), James Rodwell (Moseley RFC). Tries: Damu, Barrett, Phillips, Cracknell. Conversions: Phillips (3) Cathay Pacific/Credit Suisse Hong Kong Sevens England results: Friday March 27, 2009 England 54-0 China Saturday March 28, 2009 England 50-0 Japan England 26-19 Wales It was a case of déjà vu for England as they ran in another eight tries including a hat-trick from Rob Vickerman in their second pool match of the Cathay Pacific/Credit Suisse Hong Kong Sevens (March 27-29). After the success of beating China 54-0 yesterday (Friday) England gave the Hong Kong crowd much of the same scoring four tries in each half. Isoa Damudamu got the scoring underway Kevin Barrett making the most of an overthrown lineout to send Damu down the left wing and over the line, Ollie Phillips failed to convert. Vickerman scored his first try in the third minute when a pass from Josh Drauniniu saw him fly through the midfield defence to go in under the posts for Phillips to convert, taking the score to 12-0 in the third minute. Tom Varndell was sent charging up the left wing with a ball from Drauniniu to add another five points and Vickerman added his second try at the restart with a charge down to go in under the posts, Phillips converted to take the score at the break to 24-0. Varndell added his second within 30 seconds of the second half putting on the gas to outrun the defence to score in the left corner, Phillips missed the conversion. Replacement Ben Jones scored his first try of the tournament whilst being held down on his line with an overhead touchdown for Phillips to convert. A Phillips tackle on Japan stopped them from scoring and saw James Rodwell looking to score his first try for England but he was stopped just short of the line and Vickerman took the glory with another charge down to go in under the posts for Phillips to convert, taking the score to 43-0. Dan Caprice made a break on the buzzer and some good handling by Phillips sent Damu in for his second try of the match, Phillips added the extras to take the final score to 50-0. England face Wales at 6.34pm local time, GMT +8. England: Isoa Damudamu (British Army/London Wasps), Rob Vickerman (Leeds Carnegie), Josh Drauniniu (Royal Navy/Exeter Chiefs), James Rodwell (Moseley RFC), Tom Varndell (Leicester Tigers), Ollie Phillips (Newcastle Falcons), Kevin Barrett (Exeter Chiefs). Replacements: Dan Caprice (Saracens), Tom Biggs (Leeds Carnegie), Ben Jones (Worcester Warriors). Tries: Damu (2), Vickerman (3), Varndell (2), Jones. Conversions: Phillips (5) Cathay Pacific/Credit Suisse Hong Kong Sevens England results Friday March 27, 2009 England 54-0 China Saturday March 28, 2009 England 50-0 Japan England 54 - 0 China Dan Caprice scored a hat-trick on his debut helping England to an eight try victory in their opening match of the Cathay Pacific/Credit Suisse Hong Kong Sevens (March 27-29). On a rain sodden pitch England's first try came from a Tom Varndell break outrunning two defenders, he was eventually pulled down and his pass to Josh Drauniniu saw him fly over the line. England scored a further three tries in the half with Drauniniu running in for his second from inside China's half one from Isoa Damudamu and one from Kevin Barrett, Ben Gollings converted all four and at half time the score was 28-0. Replacement Caprice scored the first of his three tries early in the second half taking advantage of a loose ball to charge over. Barrett added a fourth from a Vickerman pass right on the line for Gollings to convert both tries taking the score to 42-0. Caprice had the last say scoring his second from the restart in the right corner and his third from an England lineout, breaking through China's defence at close range to go over under the posts. Gollings converted one taking the final score to 54-0. England face Japan tomorrow at 2.10pm local time, GMT +8. England: Isoa Damudamu (British Army/London Wasps), Rob Vickerman (Leeds Carnegie), Josh Drauniniu (Royal Navy/Exeter Chiefs), Tom Varndell (Leicester Tigers), Kevin Barrett (Exeter Chiefs), Ben Gollings (Gold Coast, Australia), Chris Cracknell (Exeter Chiefs). Replacements: James Rodwell (Moseley RFC), Dan Caprice (Saracens), Tom Biggs (Leeds Carnegie). Tries: Drauniniu (2), Barrett (2), Damu, Caprice (3) Conversions: Gollings (7) Cathay Pacific/Credit Suisse Hong Kong Sevens England fixtures and results Friday March 27, 2009 England 54-0 China Saturday March 28, 2009 England v Japan (kick off 2.10pm local time, GMT +8) England v Wales (kick off 6.34pm local time, GMT +8)