 Rob Thirlby's try against Australia was not enough for England |
England's chances of winning the IRB Sevens Series were hit when they lost 29-17 to Australia in the Paris Sevens quarter-finals on Sunday. England will go into the final round in London next weekend trailing Fiji by 14 points, with 20 points on offer to the winners and 16 to the runners-up.
Fiji also went out at the quarter-final stage in Paris but managed to beat Argentina 31-12 in the Plate final.
South Africa secured the main title by beating Samoa 33-12 in the final.
England took a 10-0 lead in their match against Australia thanks to tries from Ben Russell and Andy Vilk, but Australia hit back through Luke Milton and Andrew Brown.
Henari Veratau's try made it 15-10 to Australia, and although Ben Gollings' conversion, after Rob Thirlby had crossed, put England back into the lead, late tries from AJ Gilbert and Tim Atkinson gave Australia victory.
A sub-par England then lost 14-12 to Argentina in the Plate semi-final despite tries from Vilk and Dan Hipkiss and a Gollings conversion.
Meanwhile, in the bowl quarter-finals, Scotland lost 19-14 to Tunisia.
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