England seal Cape Town sevens after South Africa miss final-kick conversion
Rugby SevensMonday, 12 December 2016 at 09:31
England win 19-17 in final of second round of World Rugby Sevens Series
The win was their first Cup since Tokyo 2015
Mitchell, the England captain, said: “It’s been a hell of a tough tournament."
Tom Mitchell's England pulled off a 19-17 victory over South Africa to clinch the Cape Town Sevens title on Sunday.
Despite Werner Kok scoring in the last seconds with England down to six men, a missed conversion from Justin Geduld ensured Simon Amor's side won their first Cup since Tokyo 2015.
England captain Tom Mitchell said: "It been a hell of a tough tournament but I am so proud of the boys. We trained all summer and this makes it all worth it. We were a bit disappointed last weekend and we wanted to put it right. It was a pleasure to play in this stadium.”
In an enthralling final, Chris Dry showed incredible pace to beat Mitchell to the try line with the first try of the match before Richard de Carpentier hit back immediately to give England a 7-5 lead. Dan Norton added another to his weekend tally after an impressive pass from Dan Bibby to make the scores 12-5 at half-time, with South Africa losing Branco du Preez to injury.
Du Preez’s replacement, Rosko Specman, scored another wonder try early in second-half, chipping over the England defence and dotting down under the posts to draw the scores level. But, soon afterwards, HSBC player of the final Ruaridh McConochie stepped inside Philip Snyman to give England another lead.
Norton was then sent to the sin bin with less than a minute remaining for a nervy finish, allowing South Africa and Werner Kok to score in the corner but Geduld missed the conversion to give England the famous win.
England close the gap on series leaders South Africa, finishing the first two rounds on 39, two behind South Africa but ahead of Fiji (32), Scotland and New Zelaand (both 27).
Cup Final
South Africa 17-19 England
Bronze Final
New Zealand 24-19 Scotland
Semi-finals
South Africa 14-7 New Zealand
Scotland 14-33 England
Quarter-finals
South Africa 33-0 Wales
New Zealand 28-7 Kenya
Scotland 24-19 USA
Fiji 26-31 England
Fifth-place
Kenya 21-33 Fiji
Semi-finals
Wales 14-19 Kenya
USA 12-28 Fiji
Challenge Trophy
Argentina 7-19 France
Semi-finals
Australia 17-21 Argentina
Russia 12-17 France
Quarter-finals
Australia 42-12 Uganda
Argentina 33-12 Japan
Samoa 14-17 Russia
France 42-14 Canada
13th Place
Final
Uganda 10-19 Canada
Semi-finals
Uganda 21-17 Japan
Samoa 24-26 Canada
TRENDING
LATEST NEWS
LATEST COMMENTS
- Jordie Barrett over Damian de Allende is far from being correct. The hype around Dupont is also overreaching, he's probably 4th in the world and has been since the 2023 WC. He also avoids certain matchups which is strange. The rest of the list is pretty good apart from minor subjective biases.JasonMarlow16-09-2026
Loading
