SPURRED on by a 50,000-plus Twickenham crowd, England reached today's London Sevens quarter finals after finishing second in pool D with wins over Scotland and Japan.
Simon Amor's side had recently endured difficult and underwhelming tournaments in Singapore, Vancouver and Toulouse but the home side kicked off their London campaign with a 19-17 victory over Scotland in a game of two halves.
Scotland raced into a 17- 0 lead at half-time through tries by Jordan Edmunds, Lee Jones and Ross McCann which momentarily silenced the home crowd. However, 19 unanswered second half points courtesy of tries by Freddie Roddick, Tom Bowen and Tom Emery overturned the deficit and sealed the win.
It was smoother sailing for England in their second pool game as they romped to a 38-12 win against Japan through tries by Bowen, Joe Browning, Jamie Adamson, Calum Randle, and a brace by Roddick.
Having already qualified for the next round, England concluded yesterday's action by losing 26-19 to pool D toppers Samoa in an entertaining affair that could have gone either way.
England raced into a 14- 0 lead through tries by Adamson and Will Homer, but Samoa scored an important try on the stroke of half-time through Paulo Scanlan.
Captain Aled Davis stretched England's lead but 19 unanswered points through tries by Afa Aiono, Sione Young and a second from Scanlan means England will take on Fiji later today.
Wales' poor 7s season continues as they endured pool stage defeats to Fiji, USA and Spain, conceding 113 points in the process. They will have to settle for a place in today's ninth place play-off match against Scotland.
Ireland's strong 7s series continues as they booked a place in the quarter-final against New Zealand by finishing runners-up in pool B after wins over Kenya and Argentina, with a narrow loss to South Africa sandwiched in between.
After a disappointing showing in Toulouse, South Africa hit back yesterday through wins over Ireland, Kenya and Argentina to finish top of pool B and face Australia in the quarter-finals.
Spain became the competition's wildcards as they secured impressive victories over USA and Wales, and they take on Samoa in the last eight.
■ BOTH reigning Olympic champions secured the top honours at the Toulouse Sevens last Sunday as Fiji and New Zealand claimed the men's and women's titles.
New Zealand's women defeated Australia 21-14 in a thrilling final. Australia took some consolation in receiving the 2022 Series trophy, which they had already secured following victory in last month's Canada 7s.
England lost their 11th place play-off 26-14 to Spain and drop to ninth in the world rankings.
In the men's tournament, Ireland reached their first ever Cup final but the Fijians – off the back of gold in Singapore and silver in Vancouver – were too strong, running in five tries to win 29-17.
Argentina, who finished fifth in Toulouse, are now top of the Series.
