England Sevens secured their second consecutive Plate final victory of the season with a 14-5 victory over the USA in the Brazil leg of the Sevens World Series.
England, who lifted the Plate in the first round in Dubai also, reached the final after being knocked out of the cup competition at the quarter-final stages this morning. Simon Middleton’s side had faced tournament finalists Australia in the final eight but came off 29-10 losers. Two tries from Michaela Staniford couldn’t keep the Wallabies at bay.
That defeat pitted England against pool rivals Russia in the Plate semi-finals, a side England drew 17-17 to on Saturday. This time England came out on top with Joanne Watmore and Danielle Waterman scoring four tries between them to take a 22-12 win and secure a place in the Plate final.
In their final game of the tournament, England were held to nil for most of the first half until USA skipper Kelly Griffin was handed a yellow card for going off her feet at the breakdown. The ball eventually then made its way to Rachael Burford to score. Richardson added the conversion.
The USA immediately hit back after the restart through Victoria Folayan but a try for Waterman and another conversion was enough for England to take a 14-5 victory and their second Plate victory on the bounce.
Middleton, whose side now sit fifth in the series rankings, said: “It has been a tough weekend and to be honest we deserved to finish where we did. Australia were the better side in the quarter-finals but the players responded well to that defeat and fronted up against Russia to silence then. We then made hard work of our final game against the USA but in the end we did enough. We are now fifth in the World Series and we know we have got to keep moving forward over the next four rounds to get higher up the rankings ladder.”
England Sevens squad
Claire Allan (Richmond)
Natasha Brennan (Richmond)
Rachael Burford (VC) (Thurrock)
Abi Chamberlain (C) (Richmond)
Natasha Hunt (Lichfield)
Katy Mclean (Darlington Mowden Park Sharks)
Marlie Packer (Wasps)
Alice Richardson (Richmond)
Michaela Staniford (Wasps)
Danielle Waterman (Bristol)
Joanne Watmore (Richmond)
Amy Wilson-Hardy (Bristol)
WSWS Brazil playing schedule and Results
Saturday, February 7
England 31 South Africa 5
Tries: Brennan, Hunt, Mclean, Watmore, Wilson Hardy
Conversions: Mclean (2), Richardson
England 17 Russia 17
Tries: Watmore (3)
Conversions: Richardson
England 17 Canada 24
Tries: Waterman, Watmore (2)
Conversions: Mclean
Sunday, February 8
Cup Quarter-finals: England 10 Australia 29
Tries: Staniford (2)
Plate Semi-finals: England 22 Russia 12
Tries: Waterman, Watmore (3)
Conversion: Richardson
Plate Final: England 14 USA 5
Tries: Burford, Waterman
Conversions: Richardson (2)