England leave it late to reach London Sevens cup quarter-finals as Tom Mitchell celebrates his half-century

England skipper revels in his 50th cap but needed a big performance when the pressure was on to reach the last eight and set-up a clash with Australia

Dan Norton fends off Carlin Isles to score one of two tries against the United States at the London Sevens (Getty)

England will face Australia in the London Sevens cup quarter-finals after leaving it late to book their place in the last-eight, giving captain Tom Mitchell a half-century to remember as he celebrated his 50th tournament on home soil.

Mitchell was given a standing ovation as he took to the field alone to soak up the applause ahead of England’s game against the United States, having sat out the opener with France, but defeat left England staring potential elimination from the cup competition unless they could beat Kenya in the day’s final encounter.

But after a brilliant response in a six-try win over the African side, Mitchell took a moment to soak up the magnitude of the event, which comes as the penultimate tournament of the World Series.

“It was lovely,” Mitchell told The Independent. “Obviously I wanted to get going in the first game but wasn’t allowed to play in that one. It was a nice moment, it’s been a great week and there’s been a huge amount of support from everyone at home and particularly from my teammates and my family. It’s nice to have this moment to sort of reflect a little bit because we probably don’t do that enough in this game, it’s always looking for the next improvement and the next challenge, so it’s been a nice week.

“As it always is with Sevens, it was a day of ups and downs. A good performance in the first game against France and then we just got a few things wrong against the USA who are a strong side and we just didn’t get a lot of ball. We made life difficult for ourselves there, but the resilience that the boys showed in that last one against Kenya, who have had a good season and are a good side, if you get it wrong against them they can punish you so I’m really pleased with how we came back into it and finished it off.”

The hosts made the dream start, recording the biggest victory of the first round as they thrashed France 34-0, before the United States stopped them in their tracks with a demoralising 31-14 defeat that left Simon Amor’s side on the brink of cup elimination.

Dan Bibby in action for England against France (Getty)

Running out in the final game in the first batch of group fixtures, England put on a show for those early birds that had made the effort to get here for the morning’s action. Four tries in the first half saw both Alex Davis and Dan Norton go over before Ollie Lindsay-Hague bagged a double inside two minutes, and when he completed his hat-trick – along with a second from Norton – England looked to be on course for top spot after the US could only draw 19-19 with Kenya.

England continued to look in cruise control midway through their second match as Norton inspired the hosts to a 14-5 lead at the break, with the all-time leading try scorer crossing twice to take his personal tally to four for the day – with his second a brilliant foot race between himself and American flyer Carlin Isles.

Pool C results

Kenya 19-19 USA
England 34-0 France
Kenya 24-21 France
England 14-31 USA
USA 38-14 France
England 38-12 Kenya

But the second half quickly saw England lose their way as the US responded to former England coach Mike Friday’s half-time team talk. Demanding more intensity, US head coach Friday got exactly what he wanted as two messy restarts fell in their favour and allowed Folau Niua and Stephen Tomasin to cross – though the latter looked to have lost control while grounding the ball that the television match official decided wasn’t clear enough to overturn.

With the US in front, Norton went from hero to zero as he found himself sent to the sin-bin for a tackle in the air, and Isles took full advantage, scoring twice to pass injured teammate Perry Baker as this season’s top try scorer on the Sevens circuit.

When Willy Ambaka struck early to put Kenya ahead in the day’s final match, the writing appeared on the wall for the hosts. But it only went as far as to trigger a response in two tries apiece from Lindsey-Hague and Mike Ellery, as well as fifth Norton try of the tournament, and there was enough time for Charlie Hayter to add the cherry on the cake to seal the 38-12 win.

England will face Australia in the quarter-finals with the US taking on Ireland in what is an already incredible achievement for the side that has been invited to play in both the London and Paris legs of the Sevens circuit. In what came down to a shootout between the Irish and nearby rivals Wales, a 21-19 victory in favour of the team in red was not enough to pip the Emerald Isle due to points difference, meaning that they will face France in the Trophy quarters.

Fiji made the biggest statement of the day with a 27-7 win over New Zealand (Getty)

Meanwhile, defending London Sevens champions Scotland bowed out of the cup reckoning with a whimper as they suffered three straight defeats, albeit in a nasty-looking group that contained World Series leaders Fiji, New Zealand and Argentina. After consecutive 24-12 and 39-12 defeats by Fiji and the All Blacks respectively, Scotland suffered a narrow 22-19 loss to Argentina to confirm them as bottom in Pool A, handing them a trophy quarter-final against Russia.

Fiji meanwhile left it late to send out a statement as they thrashed New Zealand 22-7 in Saturday’s standout fixture. As if the Fijian squad was not strong enough already, they were able to draft in two handy reinforcements this week in the form of Toulon backs Semi Radradra and Josua Tuisova, just one week after they helped put nine tries past England in the Barbarians’ famous victory here at Twickenham last Sunday.

Fiji will face Canada in the last eight with New Zealand taking on South Africa, the team directly above them in the rankings, while Argentina will meet Samoa and Spain take on Kenya in the remaining trophy quarter-finals.