Scarratt anguish as her women fall at the first
ENGLAND women were knocked out of the main competition at the Rugby World Cup Sevens with a 19-14 loss to Ireland in the quarter-final.
Defeat saw England go into the Challenge competition, with the winners of that tournament placing ninth overall in San Francisco.
England beat Mexico 59-0 in the quarter-finals and saw off China 38-0 to book a place in the final against Japan, who beat Fiji in the other semi-final.
Ireland lost 45-0 to New Zealand in the Championships quarter-finals and will now play Russia in the 5/8 place match.
Since the Women's Rugby World Cup last August, England has focussed on the shorter format with all their internationals available for the World Series circuit.
And Emily Scarratt could not hide her frustration after they bombed out in the opener.
“We're gutted. We didn't come here to lose in our first game,” said England vice-captain Scarratt.
Ireland took a narrow 7-5 half-time lead before Amee Murphy Crowe scored twice in two minutes after the break to extend their advantage.
James Bailey's England side pulled a try back through Alex Matthews but left it too late to complete the comeback.
Defending champions New Zealand, World Series winners Australia, France and hosts USA will contest the Championship semifinals.
New Zealand face hosts USA with Australia taking on France.
New Zealand were in sublime form in both matches in San Francisco, captain Sarah Goss scoring the tournament's first hattrick in a 57-0 defeat of Mexico in the round of 16 before powering past Ireland in the Championship quarter-finals, Michaela Blyde crossing for three tries in the 45-0 win.
Australia got off to a flier against debutants Papua New Guinea with Charlotte Caslick scoring two of their six tries in a 34-5 victory before seeing off Spain 34-0.
If the first two quarterfinals were straightforward affairs for New Zealand and Australia, the third between Canada and France was a nail-biter that swung one way and then the other, Les Bleues racing out of the blocks with tries by Majorie Mayans and Lina Guerin only for Canada captain Ghislaine Landry to touch down on half-time.
A great solo try by Charity Williams edged Canada ahead for the first time before Guerin and Bianca Farella traded scores to leave the sides locked at 19-19.
Extra-time seemed on the cards until Coralie Bertrand, the rookie of the year on the 2018 series, reached out for the winning try to spark wild celebrations among her team-mates as it secured a first-ever RWC Sevens semi-final.
Two first-half tries by Naya Tapper looked to have crowd favourites USA on their way to victory over Russia with a 21-5 half-time lead. The Russians battled back to within a score before quick-fire tries by Ilona Maher and Cheta Emba made certain of a semi-final showdown with defending champions New Zealand.
