Worcester back row Jake Abbott and England Sevens suffered a disappointing 27-14 defeat at the hands of South Africa in their plate semi final of the Las Vegas Sevens.
Earlier England lost to Kenya in their cup quarter final during extra time and they were upset again by a flat performance against the Boks.
England were 17-7 down at half time after three quickly taken tries by South Africa, the first in the 56th minute, Kyle Brown charging under the posts for a converted try.
The other two were from the restart, South Africa quickly gaining possession to send Steven Hunt over in the top corner and then again putting pressure on England to send Brown in for his second.
England answered back on the buzzer through captain Ben Gollings (Gold Coast Breakers) who chased his own kick to score and convert.
A South Africa penalty saw Hunt charge through Dan Caprice (Blackheath) and over the line for another try early in the second half.
England gained possession from the restart but quickly lost it, South Africa turning them over to send Cecil Afrika in for their final try, giving England an impossible task to come back from 27-7.
Bristol’s Dan Norton did have a go tough and scored on the buzzer after receiving an outside pass from Gollings for a converted try to finish on 27-14.
Head Coach Ben Ryan said, “We had a good first day yesterday and set ourselves up nicely for today. Unfortunately we didn’t take our opportunities during the quarter final against Kenya and that disappointment that the players felt was still evident on the field in the semi final against South Africa, where we produced a pretty flat performance and didn’t ask enough questions in attack or defence.
“We are now at midway stage of the competition with a lot to do to try to win this Series. There are positives to take from the last three weeks but we are in this to win things. We need to have a look and see what went wrong but South Africa were far more up for the fight today.”
England: Christian Wade (London Wasps), James Rodwell (Moseley), Jake Abbott (Worcester Warriors), Dan Caprice (Blackheath), Ben Gollings (capt, Gold Coast, Australia), Mat Turner (Bristol Rugby), Donald Barrell (Saracens)
Replacements: Tom Powell (Cambridge), Dan Norton (Bristol Rugby), Nick Royle (Fylde)
England scorers: Tries: Gollings, Norton; Cons: Gollings (2)
USA Sevens results:
England 26-10 Wales
England 24-5 Japan
England 12-12 Argentina
Cup quarter final, England 21-26 Kenya
Plate semi final, South Africa 27-14 England
Watch England Sevens in action on May 22 & 23 at the Emirates Airline London Sevens, their only home tournament on the IRB Series. To buy tickets and follow England Sevens go to www.facebook.com/londonsevens