England Sevens lose to Australia in Las Vegas Plate final

England Sevens went down to Australia 21-14 in the Plate final of the Las Vegas Sevens this morning.
Australia had raced into a first half 21-0 lead but England had the last say of the half when Alex Gray superbly set up Charlie Hayter to race through and score.
Tom Mitchell’s second half try reduced the deficit to seven points but the Australians held firm to secure the win and valuable series points.
The Aussies remain in the all-important fourth place in the overall standings, the last Olympics qualifying place, with England in fifth three points behind.
Head Coach Simon Amor said: “We’re really pleased with the effort and commitment from the players. We have a fairly inexperienced squad out here and they have performed very well.
“There was a quick turnaround from Wellington, and we invested a lot physically in that competition, so to come here and get out of a tough pool was pleasing. The exciting thing is that when we get players back from injury there will be a real competition for places and that’s great as we look ahead to the next couple of legs.”
Earlier in the day, England beat France 26-5 in the Plate semi-final, tries from John Brake, two from Hayter – including an impressive acrobatic finish – and a late score from James Stephenson sealed the win.