England Women lift European Sevens Series title and qualify for Rugby World Cup Sevens 2013
England Women celebrated a double victory today (Sunday) when they lifted the European Sevens Series title in Moscow, beating Spain 27-7 in the final, and in doing so qualified for next year’s Rugby World Cup Sevens.
England Women, playing in their last tournament of the season, were in top form cruising through the pool stages on Saturday nilling Portugal, Croatia and Germany before then dominating the knock out stages of the tournament today (Sunday).
England faced the Ukraine in today’s opener and knew they had to win to book their place in next year’s Rugby World Cup, which will also be staged in Moscow. They did just that, running in five tries, including a hat-trick for Worcester’s Joanne Watmore, on route to the 31-5 victory.
Next-up they faced a sharp looking Russia side in the semi-finals and as expected they pushed England scoring 12 points. But England proved too strong with Watmore running in a further two touch downs and skipper Michaela Staniford also scoring while Alice Richardson converted a penalty try. With Richardson also kicking two conversions England sealed a 24-12 victory.
England then took on Spain in the final, in a re-run of round one of the European Seven Series earlier this month. Two weeks ago England defeated Spain 21-10 in Holland, and this final followed a similar course.
Spain once again threatened England and put a try on them but England were in dominant form and ran in five tries thanks to Watmore (2), Staniford (2) and Heather Fisher. With Richardson also adding a conversion England took a 27-7 victory and their third tournament win of the season after wins in the IRB Challenge Cups in Hong Kong and London.
England Sevens Head Coach Barry Maddocks said: “Our primary aim this weekend was to qualify for the Rugby World Cup so to then win the title as well is a massive bonus.
“This has been a good season and I am delighted for the players. We have come a long way since coming together as a squad 14 months ago, and the hard work from everyone involved has really paid off.
“The challenge now is to keep going forward and getting better and we certainly plan to do that as we look towards the Rugby World Cup next season.”
