England dumped into the Plate after testy Fiji clash reaches boiling point

They are more than plucky losers, they are equals who on any other day may have gotten the better of their favoured opponents in the Cup quarter-finals.

England and Australia are heading to the Plate competition, separated from the match winners by a single conversion. England were beaten 14-12 by Fiji in a testy encounter that featured a number of off-the-ball incidents with players continuing to confront each other even after the final whistle.

The tough-tackling Australians fell 7-5 to Sevens World Series leaders South Africa, having kept their fleet-footed opponents at bay with savage defence which conceded just a single breach.

For USA and Argentina defeat was more one-sided as the Americans lost 26-15 to Samoa and Pumas went down 31-21 to New Zealand 31-19.

For Australia coach Geraint John, the performance was only marginally short of what was needed to beat the top teams.

“It shows their grit and determination,” said John, whose team arrived in Hong Kong in fourth place in the series standings. “There were key moments in the game where we lost a little bit of composure. We had the ball, had a penalty but couldn’t get the final pass away.