Fiji finish off England on route to first Sydney title
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ENGLAND finished fourth in Sydney after defeat to USA in the bronze final.
Fiji, who had beaten England 17-14 in the semi-final, went on to defeat South Africa in the final.
Acting head coach James Rodwell said: “It was really pleasing to win all three pool games and to reach another semi-final.
”We were disappointed with the result against Fiji but I thought the boys played very well.”
England went into day two after wins over Spain and Ireland and completed the pool stage with a 26-14 win over Canada with tries from Mike Ellery, Charlton Kerr, Ben Harris and Ollie Lindsay- Hague. Tries from Connor Braid and Andrew Cole had given Canada a 14-12 lead at half-time.
In the semi-final, Fiji raced 17-0 ahead with tries from Napolioni Bolaca, Waisea Nacuqu and Jerry Tuwai. After Dan Norton was fouled in the act of attempting to score, England were awarded a penalty try and Fiji were down to six-men as a yellow card was shown.
Captain Tom Mitchell scored a second England try but they fell short.
It took just 20 seconds for USA to take the lead in the Bronze final when Perry Baker sprinted through and Ben Pinklemen doubled their lead. Naima Fuala'au scored a third before Will Hendy and Ollie Lindsay- Hague scored for England in the 17-10 defeat
. Fiji came out on top against South Africa for the second time in eight days, although this time their prize was not ninth place but a first title in Sydney.
After their disappointment in Hamilton the sides served up a Cup final every bit as thrilling as their last meeting in Singapore when Fiji had led 19-0 at half-time only for South Africa to storm back 21- 19.
Napolioni Bolaca opened the scoring for Fiji, but a run from Zain Davids created the momentum for JC Pretorius to score with Fiji suffering a double blow with Josua Vakurunabili yellowcarded for a tackle earlier in the move.
Fiji managed to hold out in his absence and then increased their advantage when a powerful hand-off from Bolaca gave him the space to score his second.
Zain Davids crossed for South Africa midway through the second half but his namesake Selvyn was unable to add the conversion and Fiji triumphed 12-10.
New Zealand finished fifth but still the lead the overall standings with 76 points after four of the 10 rounds. South Africa are second on 67, with France (56), England (54) and Fiji (53) battling for third.
RESULTS
FINAL FIJI 12 – RSA 10 BRONZE FINAL USA 17 – 10 ENG 5TH PLACE PLAYOFF NZL 24 – 7 AUS 7TH PLACE PLAYOFF IRE 21 – 12 ARG 9TH PLACE PLAYOFF FRA 7 – 0 CAN 11TH PLACE PLAYOFF SCO 21 – 5 WAL 13TH PLACE PLAYOFF ESP 14 – 7 JAP 15TH PLACE PLAYOFF SAM 19 – 12 KEN
