Captain Phil Burgess says he was proud of his side’s clinical performances as England disposed of New Zealand and South Africa on their way to a third place finish in the HSBC Sevens World Series.
The World Series marks the beginning of the Rio 2016 qualifying process and, with England nominated by the British Unions as the lead nation to qualify on behalf of Team GB, their performances are crucial.
England started the tournament with a 21-19 defeat by Argentina but bounced back with consecutive wins over USA and Canada to secure their place in the quarter finals.
And it was there that they managed to overcome defending HSBC Sevens World Series and Gold Coast Sevens Champions New Zealand with a 31-7 win.
A semi-final defeat to eventual winners Fiji meant a third-placed playoff with South Africa where England produced a dominant performance to win 19-0 after two tries from Dan Norton and one from Alex Gray.
And, after securing third place, Burgess reflected on his side’s memorable defeat of the All Blacks.
“We know that New Zealand are so physical and that we had to match them and today, that’s what we did. We matched them and we were clinical," he said.
"I don’t know how many times we had the ball in their half or their 22 but we came away with points nearly every time."
© Sportsbeat 2014