Tom Mitchell insists England’s men will fight straight back after enduring an frustrating Dubai leg of the Sevens World Series.

After two wins and a loss on the opening day, England returned to action 24 hours later to face New Zealand in their Cup quarter-final.

However England were no match for the All Blacks, going down 29-7, before following that up with a 21-19 defeat to Argentina in the Plate semi-final.

With the top four sides after the Series finale next May securing a place at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games – England chosen as the home nation’s representatives in the qualification process – this trip to Dubai didn’t exactly go according to plan for England.

And while captain Mitchell is ready to admit that he was expecting more from the adventure, he is determined to help England bounce back when the action moves to Port Elizabeth in South Africa.

“We came here with high hopes and a lot of belief, we set ourselves high standards, so obviously we’re extremely disappointed,” he said.

“It’s a tough one to swallow because we’ve actually played some really good rugby this weekend.

“We were down to nine guys [with injuries to Dan Bibby, James Rodwell and Charlie Hayter] and we’ll take that as a learning curve.

“Sometimes it doesn’t go your way in sevens but we’ll regroup and switch our focus on performing well in Port Elizabeth next weekend.”

© Sportsbeat 2014