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Australia smash England in London Sevens

Article Published: Saturday 22 May 2010

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Australia set up a clash with Fiji in the quarter-finals of the English Sevens at Twickenham after crushing the hosts 38-5 in their final pool match on Saturday.

The Australians topped Pool D with a 100 percent record from their three matches thanks to an emphatic victory over England, which followed a 43-17 win over Scotland in their opening game and a 47-0 thrashing of Russia.

England finished second in Pool D after beating Russia 29-5 and Scotland 36-10 and now face a last eight meeting with Pool C winners South Africa, who edged ahead of second placed Fiji on points difference.

Ben Gollings, England's captain, became only the second player to score 200 tries in the Sevens World Series and admitted it was a remarkable achievement.

"It is pretty awesome feeling. Honestly I am just happy to be winning out there, but it is a great milestone," he said.

"I think the try that sticks out the most is the winning one against Fiji at Hong Kong in 2006."

South Africa won their first two matches, 19-12 against France, and 43-0 against Canada, before sharing a 21-21 draw with Fiji.

That tie denied Fiji first place after they had beaten Canada 28-19 and France 29-14.

Argentina can look forward to a last eight showdown with Wales as they handed Samoa a first defeat in 21 matches to win Pool A The Argentinians had beaten Italy 29-0, then lost 14-12 to the United States before shocking the Samoans 14-10.

The result was especially surprising as the Samoans had looked in fine form with a 38-14 win over the United States followed by a 41-0 rout of Italy.

Samoa coach Stephen Betham said: "Argentina deserved the win, they wanted it more than we did and congratulations to them.

"I think there was a mental barrier, I think we knew we were through and went through the motions."

New Zeaand topped Pool B to set up a quarter-final meeting with Samoa.

A convincing 43-5 win over Wales was followed by another routine victory as New Zealand brushed aside Portugal 35-12. Their 19-19 draw with Kenya meant the Africans crashed out and Wales went through in second place.

New Zealand haven't beaten Samoa in this season but coach Gordon Tietjens is looking forward to the challenge.

"If you are going to be good enough you have to beat them," he said.

"They didn't play particularly well in their third game either so they will be desperate as well. It will be a good quarter final."

Wales qualified as they bounced back from that New Zealand loss to defeat Kenya 22-17 and Portugal 14-12.
 
Cup quarter-final draw:
 
Argentina v Wales;
Australia v Fiji;
South Africa v England;
New Zealand v Samoa.

Results on Saturday from day one of the English Sevens, the seventh round of the World Sevens Series:

Pool A
Samoa 38 USA 14
Argentina 29 Italy 0
Samoa 41 Italy 0
Argentina 12 USA 14
USA 14 Italy 17
Samoa 10 Argentina 14

Pool B
New Zealand 43 Wales 5
Kenya 17 Portugal 15
New Zealand 35 Portugal 12
Kenya 17 Wales 22
Wales 14 Portugal 12
New Zealand 19 Kenya 19

Pool C
Fiji 28 Canada 19
South Africa 19 France 12
Fiji 29 France 14
South Africa 43 Canada 0
Canada 26 France 5
Fiji 21 South Africa 21

Pool D
Australia 43 Scotland 17
England 29 Russia 5
Australia 47 Russia 0
England 36 Scotland 10
Scotland 24 Russia 7
England 5 Australia 38

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