England’s sevens teams endure a disappointing day at the Commonwealth Games, exiting early with no chances of winning a medal.

During the men’s defeat against New Zealand, the reigning Commonwealth and World champions, England showcased a naive approach to attacking despite holding the game scoreless in the first half. The introduction of experienced players like 34-year-old veteran Scott Curry made a significant impact for New Zealand after the break.

This discrepancy in experience was evident in how the Kiwis held their ground and prevented England from scoring, despite commendable efforts from 22-year-old Api Bavadra.

England captain Davis acknowledged the lack of experience and the limited number of contracted players as a challenge.

“It’s tough. I know it’s a cliché, but we can only control what we can control. The decisions regarding contracts are made by others, and we’re doing our best with the resources available to us. If that means going into tournaments with only eight contracted players and bringing in others, then that’s what we’ll do. The buy-in from everyone has been exceptional. Obviously, we’d love to have more contracts, but that’s the reality,” Davis commented.

“I’m disappointed with the results, but I think we achieved what we set out to do in terms of making New Zealand work for the win. Our goal was to stay in the fight moment by moment, and we accomplished that,” said the 29-year-old.

“Objectively speaking, losing two out of three pool games, especially in a home tournament, is far from ideal. Last night, we discussed how we had 12 Commonwealth debuts across the men’s and women’s teams, which we are extremely proud of. However, we would have liked to reach the quarterfinals. Now, we have the opportunity to learn and improve in the placing matches,” he added.

It feels like England missed a chance to promote the game of sevens in front of their home crowd. The success of New Zealand’s men’s team can be attributed to the consistency of their sevens specialists. However, England possesses talented players like Bath’s Will Muir, Richard de Carpentier, and rising star Ben Harris from Saracens, who could have been utilized. Could something have been done to entice these players to participate? Could senior players like Dan Norton, who retired earlier this year, have been persuaded to make a special appearance in Birmingham?

Regardless of the answers, the newly announced Team GB set-up should look to New Zealand for inspiration on how to run a successful sevens program. It’s unfortunate because England had one for many years.

Commonwealth Games, day two – as it happened