Dubai : Former winners and crowd favourites England staged a dramatic return to form to beat Fiji 26-21 and set up a mouth-watering clash against Australia to enter the knock-out stages of the Emirates airline Dubai Rugby Sevens yesterday.
Joining them will be world champions Samoa, New Zealand, Wales, USA, Fiji and South Africa as the eight qualifiers to the knock-out stages of this annual tournament, now in its 41st year.
Coach Ben Ryan had blasted his mediocre England, winners here in 2004 and 2005, terming their 12-14 loss to Portugal earlier in the day as a "deep hole difficult to fill".
But the experienced Ben Gollings — ironically the culprit in England's stunning loss to Portugal — was at his inspiring best in their make-or-break finale against Fiji to see his side through for today's quarter-finals as the second qualifier from Pool D behind Fiji.
"After that blunder against Portugal I simply had to move on. So I kept to myself, did not speak with anyone and I knew I had to do something extraordinary to ensure we win this one," Gollings said after the Fiji match.
"When someone like me makes a mistake and the team gets punished then it makes one think. I am here to steady the ship, so I had come to sort of redeem myself against Fiji," added the all-time top individual points scorer.
On the Hunt
If England's loss to Portugal was an anti-climax, their win against Fiji and subsequent qualification was a heart-stopper. Leading the Fiji assault was Sitiveni Waka with tries on either side of half-time. But it was Simon Hunt who turned out to be the hero for England as he drove through from the flank to hand England a 26-21 win, well past the regulation time hooter.
Going into this encounter, England and Portugal had played each other 13 times, with the English coming out winners on each and every occasion. The two teams last met in Dubai in 2008 here with England strolling away easy winners 31-7.
Given this background, England coach Ryan had all reason to be furious with the way his experienced team failed to get past the Portuguese.
"This is shameful. We had a strategy, but there was no listening on the part of our players. The idea was to keep possession, but they were frantic out there. We've dug ourselves a really big hole out there," Ryan fumed.
However, those painful thoughts were erased later in the evening as England secure their place in the quarter-finals as the second best team from Pool D.
While the top eight teams will be in contention for the main Cup and Plate competitions, the remaining eight will be contesting for the Bowl and Shield competitions today.
Results:
Fiji bt Portugal 31-7; England bt France 24-12; Samoa drew Wales 21-21; Kenya bt Arabian Gulf 31-19; New Zealand bt USA 31-7; Zimbabwe bt Argentina 24-14; Australia bt Scotland 41-14; South Africa bt Russia 19-10; Fiji bt France 35-5; Portugal bt England 14-12; Samoa bt Arabian Gulf 54-12; New Zealand bt Zimbabwe 59-0; Wales bt Kenya 17-12; USA bt Argentina 24-19; Australia bt Russia 28-19; South Africa drew Scotland 19-19; Portugal bt France 26-14; Wales bt Arabian Gulf 47-5; USA bt Zimbabwe 28-12; Scotland bt Russia 26-10; England bt Fiji 26-21; Samoa bt Kenya 26-7; New Zealand bt Argentina 24-19; Australia bt South Africa 19-14.
Fixtures:
Today: Bowl and Shield competitions: (9.20 am) Kenya vs Argentina; (9.42 am) Portugal vs Russia; (10.04 am) Scotland vs France; (10.26 am) Zimbabwe vs Arabian Gulf.
Cup and Plate competitions: (10.48 am) Samoa vs USA; (11.10 am) Fiji vs South Africa; (11.32 am) Australia vs England; (11.54 am) New Zealand vs Wales.
