England’s Women’s Sevens team qualified Great Britain for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio with a narrow win over the United States in their third-fourth place play-off at the Sevens World Series in Amsterdam on Saturday.

The victory put Simon Middleton’s side level on points with their opponents, but their superior points difference over the season proved decisive.

Middleton, whose side had earlier beaten New Zealand 17-14 to reach the semi-finals, where they lost to Australia, said: “I am obviously absolutely thrilled we have qualified Great Britain for the Olympics.

“Of course, we didn’t do it the easy way, leaving it to the dying moments of the last game and then making it go down to the wire with points difference. We know we have to improve our consistency but it is certainly going to be an exciting period.”