IRB Sevens - George
England face tough Sevens quarter-final
Scrum.com
December 5, 2008
England's Ben Gollings is tackled by Tunisia's Mohamed Gara Ali during the IRB Sevens Series Day One match between England and Tunisia held at Outeniqua Park in George, South Africa on December 5, 2008.
Ben Gollings' England side face a tough quarter-final with South Africa © Getty Images
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England face an uphill battle in their quest for the George Sevens title, with hosts South Africa their opponents in the quarter-finals at Outeniqua Park.

Ben Ryan's young side looked impressive in the tournament's early games, but suffered in defence as they went down to New Zealand in the final game of the day, condemning them to face the side that ended their challenge in Dubai in the last eight.

England had started well, sweeping aside Tunisia 42-7 and then France 21-7 before they faced the All Blacks. But the Kiwis then came out on top and gave Ryan's side a massive body-blow to end the first day.

England showed good early promise, with Micky Young breaking well, before feeding Rob Vickerman for the score. Ben Gollings added the conversion for another couple of points to his IRB record. New Zealand saw such little ball in the first half that it was inevitable that they would have a go with their first foray into English territory.

After Zar Lawrence took them off their own line, Thomasi Cama went flying down the shoulder into the English 22 to allow Tim Mikkelson scored in the corner. In the second half England's Isoa Damu went perilously close before New Zealand were presented with a similar chance at the other end of the field. The Kiwis did not hesitate as Nafi Tuitavake first stepped Matthew Turner and then handed off Young to take them ahead.

A minute later Mikkelson went steaming up the middle to put the game beyond doubt. Now the English have to face the South Africans, who started where they left off in Dubai with comprehensive wins over the USA, Georgia and Australia to book top spot in Pool B. The biggest upsets of the day came from minnows Portugal, who beat Wales, Kenya and Samoa to end top of their pool and surprise everyone. In all three games they came from behind and scored the winning try in the last two minutes.

The other surprises on the day came from the United States, who scored in the final two minutes to beat Australia 28-26 and Zimbabwe - who beat a woeful Scottish side 17-7. The USA, only this year confirmed as a core team in the IRB Sevens, will have a tough first quarter-final against New Zealand while Portugal could go one further if they beat Argentina in the second Cup play-off of the day.

The South Pacific derby between Fiji and Samoa rounds off the Cup quarter-finals while in the Bowl quarter-finals Kenya face Scotland and Wales take on Zimbabwe.

South Africa Sevens Cup quarter-final line-up:
New Zealand v USA
Portugal v Argentina
Fiji v Samoa
South Africa v England

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