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Home ground heroics for England?

England Sevens captain Tom Mitchell hopes that the British host city of Glasgow can help his team secure a gold medal at the Commonwealth games.

 

Having claimed silver at Melbourne in 2006 England will want to do one better but know they have a mountain to climb if they are to overcome the dominant Kiwis.

 

New Zealand have tasted nothing but glory winning all four of the Games to date since rugby was introduced in 1998.

 

Mitchell believes this may be England's best shot at toppling the Kiwis with something as near to home advantage as possible in Glasgow.

 

"There are certain advantages to us," Mitchell told Press Association Sport.

 

"We haven't had to travel far which is a benefit and where we are after the training we've done, we're in a really strong position so we're hoping to do very well and it's certainly realistic to be up there.

 

"Speaking to some of the guys who were in Delhi four years ago, a fourth place finish is pretty tough to swallow and everyone is pretty determined to go well this year."

 

Coach Simon Amor has mixed up training with a hope to prepare them for some of the tougher sides they are set to face.

 

New Zealand, South Africa, Australia and Canada will all be bidding for gold but Mitchell says England are only focusing on themselves.

 

"The top five or six in the World Series bar Fiji are all here so they will be coming and expecting to do well," Mitchell said.

 

"You can do your homework on these teams based on what they have done previously but the important thing is that we focus on ourselves.

 

"We've worked incredibly hard over the last couple of months to get things right, and working hard in the gym as well to get in the best possible shape for it.

 

"If we back ourselves and do what we know we can do we can do well against anyone."

 

Press Association Sport

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