• • Facebook
  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • Technorati
  • Reddit
  • Stumble Upon
  • Furl

The first two legs of this seasons of the IRB Sevens World Series have been encouraging ones for England and their coach Ben Ryan, says the RFU. With World Cup selection in the back of the players’ minds, all were out to put a marker down for the rest of the season, and they didn’t disappoint.

England topped their pool on day one of the Emirates Airline Dubai Sevens overcoming Portugal (31-7), USA (24-10) and Fiji (28-5) and on day two saw off Argentina (15-5) and New Zealand (19-21) to reach the cup final, England’s first in Dubai since 2005.

The faced a resurgent South Africa in the final, but suffered key injuries to in-form game breakers Uche Oduoza (Suntory, Japan) and Ollie Phillips (Newcastle Falcons) and were denied by a last minute Springbok try who edged them out 12-19.

Ben Ryan’s men then travelled onto George for the Emirates Airline South Africa Sevens with high hopes. First day wins against Tunisia (42-7) and France (21-7) saw England on the right track but a loss to New Zealand (19-7) in their final pool match put their cup competition place in doubt. Despite the loss, England did go through to the cup quarter final to face South Africa, but once again the Boks proved tough to wear down eventually going down 17-12.

Consolation was sought somewhat with the winning of the plate, outplaying Portugal for a 24-7 result in the final.

Isoa Damudamu has been one of the stand-out performers for the boys in white having missed out on much of last season with a shoulder injury. Damu was back to his best in Dubai scoring tries against Portugal, USA, Argentina and two against his home country Fiji.

Following the leg in George, Ryan said, “One losing final and one winning plate isn’t bad at all. That’s our best start for two or three years and we know we can turn over the South Africans if we keep developing. This side is certainly capable of winning the World Series.

“We’ve had our share of injuries and to be ahead of Samoa and Fiji in the overall standings at this stage is really exciting.”