Commonwealth Games
Mitchell targets maiden Commonwealth Games title for England
ESPN Staff
July 22, 2014
England Sevens captain Tom Mitchell in training for the Commonwealth Games, July 10, 2014
Tom Mitchell is aiming for a maiden Commonwealth Games title © RFU
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England sevens skipper Tom Mitchell is hopeful the British feel to the Commonwealth Games will help his team secure a maiden title.

England's best finish in the tournament was their silver medal back in 2006 in Melbourne but it has been New Zealand who have dominated the sport winning all four of the Games to date since rugby was introduced in 1998.

Despite the Kiwi dominance, Mitchell is hopeful England's new training reason and something near to home advantage in Glasgow means Mitchell's side have arguably their best chance of toppling their antipodean rivals.

"There are certain advantages to us," Mitchell said. "We haven't had to travel far which is a benefit and where we are after the training we've done, we're in a really strong position so we're hoping to do very well and it's certainly realistic to be up there.

"Speaking to some of the guys who were in Delhi four years ago, a fourth place finish is pretty tough to swallow and everyone is pretty determined to go well this year."

Coach Simon Amor has mixed up training to replicate the late finishes England will face in the competition, but his side are well aware of the teams they are going to face. England finished fourth in the World Series this year with five of the top six teams from that tournament set to compete at Ibrox.

New Zealand, South Africa, Australia and Canada will all be bidding for gold but Mitchell says England are only focusing on themselves.

"The top five or six in the World Series bar Fiji are all here so they will be coming and expecting to do well," Mitchell said. "You can do your homework on these teams based on what they have done previously but the important thing is that we focus on ourselves.

"We've worked incredibly hard over the last couple of months to get things right, and working hard in the gym as well to get in the best possible shape for it. If we back ourselves and do what we know we can do we can do well against anyone."

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