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Cape Town crowd impressed English

Cape Town - England Sevens captain Tom Mitchell couldn’t hide his delight after his side beat South Africa 19-17 to win the Cape Town Sevens.

The result secured England their first World Series tournament victory since last season’s Tokyo Sevens and also their first ever tournament win on South African soil.

“It has been a hell of a tough tournament," said Mitchell.

"I am so proud of the boys. It was an amazing effort, we trained so hard over the summer and this moment makes it all worth it. We were a bit disappointed last weekend (in Dubai) with some of our performances so we really wanted to put that right and it’s been a bit of a bumpy road, sevens usually is but to turn out like that against a very strong South Africa side in front of an amazing crowd, was amazing. It has been a pleasure to play in this stadium.

"We are very fortunate that we get a lot of support around the world and it means a lot to us, we are really proud to have the fans supporting us and we just want to do them proud in return. Thank you very much to everyone who turned out or watched back home."

Despite their defeat to England, the Blitzboks remain atop the overall World Rugby Sevens Series standings after two rounds.

South Africa’s success in Dubai the previous week was enough to keep them on top of the overall standings.

The Blitzboks (41) lead England (39) by two points, followed by Fiji (32) in third, with Scotland and New Zealand (both 27) completing the top five.

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