Thirlby happy to get a second chance

13 April 2012

England avoided an embarrassing failure to qualify for the knock-out stages of the World Cup Sevens by the skin of their teeth in Argentina.  

The unheralded squad will face Australia in the quarter-finals of the Melrose Cup in Mar del Plata thanks to Daisure Ohata of Japan.

Ohata's injury-time try which gave his side a shock 12-7 victory over Spain allowed England to qualify on points difference despite losing 17-7 to New Zealand in their final Group C encounter.

England, Japan and Spain were left locked together on points but it was coach Adrian Thompson's team who went through in second place behind the All Blacks.

The squad which was shorn of key players because of the Heineken Cup and Six Nations looked set to fail to reach the last-eight for the first time after the humbling defeat by Spain on the opening day.

But England, who won the inaugural World Cup in 1993 and reached the quarter-finals in Hong Kong four years ago, have been handed a second chance.

They will be full of confidence for the clash with Australia - who topped Group D after beating Samoa 34-12 in the final match of the mammoth 60-game programme last night - after a battling display against the Kiwis.

Bath's Rob Thirlby claimed his fourth try of the weekend to give England, who beat Japan 24-7 in their other game yesterday, an early lead against the Commonwealth champions.

New Zealand, who had scored 158 points without reply since conceding an early score against Spain in their opener, also lost veteran skipper Eric Rush who was stretchered off after injuring his leg in a tackle.

But New Zealand hit back to maintain their perfect record in the group with second-half tries from Karl Te Nana, Jonah Lomu, his first of the tournament, and Rodney So'oialo.

"We have been given a second chance and now we have to try and take it," said Thirlby.

"It was a dreadful result against Spain, but we picked ourselves up.

"We knew unofficially that we could go through after Japan beat Spain but it would defend on points difference so we stuck to the game plan against New Zealand.

"We played really well against them and maybe could have beaten them. But we left our slower guys exposed to their pace men, but that comes with sevens experience and playing together more."

England had been handed the unexpected lifeline when Spain slumped to defeat by Japan minutes earlier.

Japan took an early lead and defended that advantage until the final seconds when Spain grabbed a converted try. But in injury-time, Ohata burst through a gap to grab the winner.

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