England made a gallant attempt to repeat their Hong Kong Sevens triumph yesterday before losing narrowly to New Zealand in the semi-finals of the latest round of the IRB World Sevens Series in Singapore.

Having beaten South Africa 15-7 in the quarter-finals with the help of two tries from Wasps' Paul Sampson, the English side lost 19-10 to the All Blacks in a tight game settled only by a late New Zealand try. England's try-scorers were Harlequins' Ben Gollings and Newcastle's Jamie Noon, who captained the team and made a good impression over the entire tournament.

New Zealand went on to win the event, beating Argentina 21-17 in the final, clinching their third successive World Sevens Series crown with three tournaments still to play. The All Blacks' pool match against Samoa was marred, however, by an all-out brawl two minutes from time which resulted in five Samoans being suspended from rugby for 12 weeks. A sixth team member, Ioane Evalu, was banned for 24 weeks after coming off the bench to join the fighting, while New Zealand's Craig de Goldi picked up a 12-week suspension.

Canterbury Crusaders have returned to the top of the Super 12 table after a late Andrew Mehrtens penalty earned them a 37-34 win over the Natal Sharks, who led 26-14 at half-time. A try from the former Saracens fly-half Duncan McRae, helped New South Wales Waratahs beat the ACT Brumbies 19-11.

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