The All Blacks Sevens are out of the Cup section in Vancouver, falling 14-12 to England in the quarter-finals.
Once again, mistakes bedevilled the New Zealand effort, after they came under pressure from solid England defence.
But there were also unforced errors, such as Vilimoni Koroi putting a kick-off out on the full straight after DJ Forbes' try.
Forbes had shown all his commitment and nous with a try in the corner, which he started via a chargedown. That followed Dan Bibby's opening try for England.
New Zealand had to play catch-up, once Ruaridh McConnchie's try saw England take a 14-5 lead. Despite a last-second try to captain Scott Curry, created by Trael Joass and well converted by Beaudein Waaka, New Zealand fell just short.
They will now play Australia in the fifth-place semifinal at 10.46am, after the Australians were defeated 28-10 by Fiji.
In the other quarters, South Africa dispatched home side Canada 36-7 and USA edged Argentina 14-12.
New Zealand will have the advantage of around 20 minutes' longer for recovery time than Australia.