Emery’s try wins nail-biter against USA
ENGLAND finished with two wins to claim fifth place in Vancouver as acting head coach James Rodwell's time in charge ended on a positive note.
After losing their quarter- final against finalists Australia 31-12, England rebounded to beat Spain and the USA.
New Zealand lifted the title beating Australia 17-14 and move 11 points clear at the top of the standings.
Rodwell said: “I am pretty pleased with the performances here.
“It's been amazing to lead the team over the last four tournaments. With Simon Amor coming back in, I'm looking forward to learning a lot more from him as we build towards the Tokyo Olympics.” Outclassed 38-0 by the Blitzboks in their final pool game to finish second after nilling Argentina and Japan, England were unable to break Australia's unbeaten streak.
Lachie Anderson collected a switch pass to go over inside the first minute and quickly added a second.
Youngster Ben Harris crossed for England's firstbut Lewis Holland soon hit back for Australia.
Harris benefitted from a Charlton Kerr offload to cross again just before the break to leave England trailing 17-12.
But playmaker Maurice Longbottom set the tempo for two more tries, scoring the first himself, and the other from Josh Turner.
That defeat set up a clash with Spain which England won 26-17 after three first half tries through Will Edwards, Phil Burgess and Tom Bowen. Spain replied through Inaki Mateu on the cusp of half-time, but Mike Ellery scored at the death to see England progress.
Their opponents USA had knocked out reigning champions Fiji with a thrilling 40-14 win in the fifth place play-off semifinal.
But England scored through Bowen, Burgess and Harris to help deliver another strong first-half performance after Carlin Isles had given the USA an early lead.
USA fought back with Perry Baker's hat-trick but Tom Emery scored the allimportant try after 11 minutes to round off a 26- 24 victory.
Hosts Canada beat South Africa 26-19 to take bronze, while Scotland also built form in Vancouver with a 12-7 win over France to claim ninth and Wales lost to Argentina in the 13th place play-off semi-final.
