Worth the Wait: England celebrate their first Cup win since Dubai 2011

by Paul Cook –

England have won the Wellington leg of the Sevens World Series, beating fellow surprise finalists Kenya 24-19 in extra-time to record their first Cup Final win since Dubai back in 2011. Having been consistent challengers in recent seasons on the world circuit, England’s form in the first three rounds of the 2012/13 competition had been decidedly below par. They lost the Bowl final in Australia to Spain, took the consolation prize of a Shield trophy in Dubai after losing to Portugal on Day One and could only reach the Bowl semi-finals in South Africa.

Both finalists had claimed the scalp of hosts New Zealand en route to the decider, England in their opening match on Day One and Kenya in a pulsating Cup semi-final that would have taken a severe toll on their energy levels. Recovering from 14-0 down, they had turned it all around in the second half to score 19 unanswered points and knock the hometown favourites out of the competition, leaving puzzled faces on the All Blacks Sevens entourage and disbelief in the stands at Wellington’s Westpac Stadium. However, if they were slightly underdone going into the final, the Kenyans made a good show of hiding it as they pushed England every step of the way and went within a whisker of claiming their first ever Cup victory.

It seemed all too easy for England early on as they breezed to a 12-0 lead inside the opening 3 minutes through Dan Norton and Christian Lewis-Pratt but when Horace Otieno broke through some soft defence a couple of minutes later to score on Kenya’s first visit into their opponent’s half, it was game on.

Oscar Ouma then ran in untouched from a turnover inside their own half to make the the game all square and when Willy Ambaka shrugged off two attempts from Mat Turner to bring him to ground, all of a sudden England’s half-time team talk was about how to reel in a 7pt deficit rather than how to see out victory.

Kenya celebrate a famous win over New Zealand

The second half was all about Kenya’s heart and the immeasurable improvement in their defensive work and head coach Mike Friday – ironically, a former England Sevens player and coach – should be lauded for the increase in work rate, application and decision making that now pours through his side. With only 5 minutes remaining, Marcus Watson pulled off a match saving tackle on Kenya’s record points scorer Collins Injera as he pinned back his ears for the line and the moment proved decisive.

Kenya suddenly unravelled with the finish line in sight, two yellow cards in the final 2 minutes leaving them vulnerable and as the siren sounded, England made the advantage count with Lewis-Pratt going under the posts and converting to break Kenyan hearts. With their tails up and their opponents fading fast, it took only a minute and a half of extra-time for England to decide the outcome, Sam Edgerley scooping up a loose ball to dive over and confirm their return to the winners circle.

After their opening day win against the hosts, they had never looked back, racking up successive victories over Spain, Scotland and Samoa to reach the final and the trophy was the icing on the cake. As head coach Ben Ryan explained, it was about time they got back on track.

“I’m just thrilled for the performance that I knew we had in us. That type of dedication that I see on the training field, that I see in one on one’s with the players and that I see in the gym, a lot of people haven’t seen that in the last three tournaments. We had a lot of doubters but we had belief today and we built momentum and you can’t buy momentum. I honestly didn’t think we were going to lose the tournament when we got up this morning.”

New Zealand regrouped to snatch third place from Samoa, who had been overpowered by England in the semis while Australia achieved their second success in a row, adding the Plate trophy to the Bowl victory they claimed in South Africa. After a slow start, Michael O’Connor’s young charges will certainly be ones to watch as the series progresses and they continue to find their feet on the international stage. Four different try scorers helped them to a 22-7 defeat of Scotland, another team whose stock continues to rise after they claimed the scalps of both Fiji and Argentina across the weekend.

Fast improving Australia lifted their second trophy in two tournaments with victory in the Plate

That loss for Fiji was one of two on the opening day, results that meant they missed the cut into the Cup play-offs for the first time in the competition’s history. They redeemed themselves to a certain extent on Day Two, victories over the USA and France putting them into the unusual position of contesting a Bowl Final, but a 28-19 loss to a clinical Canadian team compounded a dismal weekend for the 2005/06 series winners.

Wales lifted the Shield with an exciting 26-21 defeat of Tonga, coming from 21pts behind and a sin bin in order to do so. While the reigning World champions won’t be happy to have left themselves with only a Shield title to play for, they proved their consistency on the big occasion once again to win their third final from their last three tournaments and have now won more titles than any other side in the 2012/13 series.

Julien Candelon of France topped the weekend’s try scoring list with an impressive tally of nine but the series now has joint leaders, Canada’s Sean Duke and South Africa’s Cornal Hendricks with 22 apiece. While it wasn’t to be his team’s weekend, New Zealand playmaker Tomasi Cama still ticked over enough points to maintain a 5pt lead over Fiji’s excitement machine Joji Baleviani Raqamate. There’s clean air between those two and the chasing pack.

While England can take credit from their return to the top table and a job well done, it was Kenya who captured the hearts and minds of the Wellington crowd. Only the champion All Blacks Sevens sit above them on the series ladder now and it is surely only a matter of time before the ‘Shujaa’ make their breakthrough Cup win. Shujaa is a Swahili word meaning courage, confidence, bravery, prowess or heroism. It is an apt description.

World Series Standings after Round 4

1. NEW ZEALAND    77pts

2. KENYA                   56pts

3. SAMOA                 54pts

4. FIJI                          51pts

5. FRANCE                 51pts