London Sevens: Scotland beat England to seal second ever title

Tries from Hugh Blake and Scott Riddell saw Scotland defend their London Sevens title against England

Scotland sealed back-to-back London Sevens titles as they came from behind to beat England 12-7 at Twickenham.

Dan Norton's sublime solo try put the hosts ahead at the break but Hugh Blake levelled just after the restart, before captain Scott Riddell crossed late on.

Victory secures Scotland's second ever World Sevens Series title, having also won the London event last year.

Despite defeat, England confirmed second place overall in the 10-event series, behind champions South Africa.

Canada beat USA 22-19 to take bronze in the series finale, while Olympic champions Fiji finished third in the overall standings.

England lost Ollie Lindsay-Hague to injury early on but took the lead as all-time Sevens Series leading try-scorer Norton checked in from the left to beat four defenders and sidestep the final man to dive over.

Blake then took advantage when England paused, thinking there might have been a Scottish knock-on, but Norton was judged to have stripped the ball in the tackle and the Scotland player picked up the loose ball to score.

The Scots then produced a series of deft offloads to put Riddell over in the corner and, although Scott Wight missed the conversion, England could not find a response as Scotland capped Calum Macrae's final game as coach with a second title.

In the semi-finals, the hosts eased past Canada 24-5, while Scotland beat USA 21-14 thanks to Joe Nayacavou's try with the final play of the game.

England progressed to the semis after two tries from player of the tournament Norton sealed a 17-12 victory over South Africa, who had secured the overall title by beating Scotland in the Paris Sevens final last weekend.

In their quarter-final, Scotland came from 21-0 down at half-time to beat New Zealand for the first time, scoring 24 unanswered points as Jamie Farndale touched down with the clock in the red.

Elsewhere, South Africa saw off Australia 28-17 in the fifth-place play-off and Fiji were 26-14 winners over Wales in the Challenge Trophy final.

Final World Sevens Series 2016-17 Top 10

1. South Africa - 192 points

2. England - 164

3. Fiji - 150

4. New Zealand - 137

5. United States - 129

6. Australia - 113

7. Scotland - 109

8. Canada - 98

9. Argentina - 90

10. Wales - 73