Samoa out of Commonwealth Games rugby 7s tournament

NEW DELHI — Greg Barden scored a first-half try and Ben Gollings converted as England edged Samoa 7-5 in the quarterfinals of the Commonwealth Games rugby sevens tournament, knocking the IRB world sevens champions out of medal contention. Barden's try came two minutes after Alatasi Tupou gave Samoa the lead with a try before a near-full and boisterous crowd at Delhi University. England will next meet defending champion New Zealand, which advanced earlier Tuesday with a 31-10 win over Wales. Australia advanced to the last four with a 27-5 win over Kenya. The Australians will play South Africa in the other semifinal. Ryno Benjamin scored the go-ahead try as South Africa beat Scotland 10-7 in the last quarterfinal after the Scots led 7-5 at halftime. England's James Rodwell sees some room for improvement in his side. "We need to work a bit on our line speed and our depth," Rodwell said. "But in these conditions, against Samoa, it's a great result. Don't forget those guys are the world champions." Rodwell's teammate Simon Hunt said he expected a tough quarterfinal. "Samoa have always been our bogey team, we took our early chances and we defended," Hunt said. "It all came together." Kurt Baker scored two tries for New Zealand as the Kiwis powered away in the second half with 21 points against the Welsh. "It was good we got stuck in, we did well," Tomasi Cama said of his team's second-half surge. Richie Pugh said his Welsh side couldn't keep pace. "Day two of a competition is always going to be a tough day," Pugh said. "In the end New Zealand just ran us off the park. I think we lacked some experience. We had a couple of new boys in there today." Missing from the tournament is perennial Sevens powerhouse Fiji, which has been suspended by the Commonwealth for political reasons and was ineligible to compete. Rugby sevens will be on the Olympic program for the 2016 Rio Games. – AP