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| England, Kenya Winners in USA 7s Pool B |
| Tournaments - USA Sevens Tournament | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Pool D favorite England got off to a solid start against USA 7s tournament rookie Brazil, downing the South American side 29-5.
Wing Dan Norton was particularly impressive, logging a hat trick began tallying three-and-a-half minutes into the match. The opening five-pointer occurred after a few penalties allowed England to systematically march down the field. From a 10-meter penalty, Brazil’s fringe defense burst off the line, but forgot about Norton idling on the sideline. Two minutes later and England was lighting up the scoreboard again. Brazil had to commit too many defenders to the tackle, and that opened up the space along the sideline for Tom Mitchell to skirt into the corner. Norton followed suit with his second five-pointer after regulation time had expired. Although outclassed, Brazil fought admirably for possession and were rewarded four minutes into the second half. Deep in their own zone, a Brazilian ballcarrier chipped over the defense and gathered his own kick before it hit the ground. He trekked into England’s territory before hitting a support runner, who nearly crossed the try line on his own. A phase later and Felipe Claro was breaking weak off the ruck for the dive/flip over the line. In the other pool game, Kenya rallied from an early deficit to defeat Scotland 17-14. Scotland’s Sean Kennedy scored the first of his two tries in the opening minute of the game, and Colin Gregor matched his effort with the conversion, 7-0. There the game stood for the rest of regulation, until Humphrey Kayange used injury time to get Kenya’s first points of the night, 7-5 into the break. It was the boost that Kenya needed, and tries from the always dependable Collins Injera and Kayange, along with a Lavin Asego conversion propelled the squad to a 17-7 lead. As Kenya and Scotland worked their bench, infusing fresh legs on to the field, Scotland continued to claw away at the Kenya defense, but to no avail – until injury time. Kennedy got his second five-pointer of the evening, as did Gregor with a conversion, but Scotland fell short in the end. Next up, Kenya takes on Brazil and England sees Scotland. POOL D - Round One Box Scores Pool D Standings
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