1
England Sevens name 18-man squad for 2019/20
By Online Editors
Head of England Sevens Simon Amor has named his 18-man squad for the 2019/20 season.
This term’s group boasts a blend of youth and experience and will once again contest the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series over 10 rounds.
The 2020 edition will serve as crucial build-up to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games as rugby sevens prepares to make its second appearance following a successful introduction at Rio 2016.
Tom Mitchell will once again captain the side who begin their campaign on 5 December in Dubai.
All-time leading try scorer Dan Norton is among those named in what will be his testimonial year.
Northampton Saints academy graduate Tom Emery joins full-time after impressing as a regular in the Franklin’s Gardens side’s sevens team and on his first international call-up for the 2019 HSBC London Sevens.
Will Hendy (Beechen Cliff) and Alfie Johnson (RGS Guildford) also join the England Sevens Academy from school with both players impressing in the European Lodz 7s Grand Prix, the final tournament of the 2018/19 circuit.
England ended their 2018/19 campaign by securing Olympic qualification on behalf of Great Britain despite missing a host of key personnel through injury. Youngsters Ben Harris and Jamie Barden shone.
Barden and Femi Sofolarin have both left the programme to focus on their university studies while Ryan Olowofela has joined Northampton Saints.
Amor said: “Looking to the season ahead, it’s a big one with the Tokyo 2020 Olympics at the end. With six combined competitions with the women, it will be an exciting year.
“On the back of a tough 2018/19 campaign, we have a number of players rehabbing injuries at the moment. We know how big a challenge the World Series will be and our focus this year will be on getting our experienced and talented squad peaking at the end of a long season to not only earn selection for Team GB but give Team GB the best chance of becoming Olympic champions.
“We are also excited to see how Ryan progresses with Northampton Saints and feel that after a couple of years with the sevens programme, he has developed well to make a real impact in XVs.
“Jamie and Femi will both continue to be involved with the England Sevens programme while developing through the university system which we are big supporters of.”
Twickenham Stadium will again host the penultimate round of the men's series taking place over the weekend of 23-24 May 2020.
Following a record-breaking Rugby World Cup Sevens 2018 in San Francisco, the men’s competition will once again travel to the United States where it will be hosted in Los Angeles taking place at home of MLS side LA Galaxy and the NFL's LA Chargers, Dignity Health Sports Park in California.
Squad list
Seniors: Dan Bibby, Tom Bowen, Phil Burgess, Alex Davis, Richard De Carpentier, Will Edwards, Mike Ellery, Harry Glover, Ollie Lindsay-Hague, Charlton Kerr, Tom Mitchell (C), Will Muir, Dan Norton, Ethan Waddleton
Academy: Tom Emery, Ben Harris, Will Hendy, Alfie Johnson
Trending on RugbyPass
2
Wallaroos captain reflects on Black Ferns’ success with sevens stars
3
Springboks flyhalf's latest injury worry
4
Initial Immanuel Feyi-Waboso injury update does not sound promising
5
Latest Comments
The boy needs to bulk up if wants to play 10 or 11 to handle those hits, otherwise he could always make a brilliant reserve for the wings if he stays away from the stretcher.
Go to commentsIn another recent article I tried to argue for a few key concept changes for EPCR which I think could light the game up in the North.
First, I can't remember who pointed out the obvious elephant in the room (a SA'n poster?), it's a terrible time to play rugby in the NH, and especially your pinnacle tournament. It's been terrible watching with seemingly all the games I wanted to watch being in the dark, hardly able to see what was going on. The Aviva was the only stadium I saw that had lights that could handle the miserable rain. If the global appeal is there, they could do a lot better having day games.
They other primary idea I thuoght would benefit EPCR most, was more content. The Prem could do with it and the Top14 could do with something more important than their own league, so they aren't under so much pressure to sell games. The quality over quantity approach.
Trim it down to two 16 team EPCR competitions, and introduce a third for playing amongst the T2 sides, or the bottom clubs in each league should simply be working on being better during the EPCR.
Champions Cup is made up of league best 15 teams, + 1, the Challenge Cup winner. Without a reason not to, I'd distribute it evenly based on each leauge, dividing into thirds and rounded up, 6 URC 5 Top14 4 English. Each winner (all four) is #1 rank and I'd have a seeding round or two for the other 12 to determine their own brackets for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. I'd then hold a 6 game pool, home and away, with consecutive of each for those games that involve SA'n teams. Preferrably I'd have a regional thing were all SA'n teams were in the same pool but that's a bit complex for this simple idea.
That pool round further finalises the seeding for knockout round of 16. So #1 pool has essentially duked it out for finals seeding already (better venue planning), and to see who they go up against 16, 15,etc etc. Actually I think I might prefer a single pool round for seeding, and introduce the home and away for Ro16, quarters, and semis (stuffs up venue hire). General idea to produce the most competitive matches possible until the random knockout phase, and fix the random lottery of which two teams get ranked higher after pool play, and also keep the system identical for the Challenge Cup so everthing is succinct. Top T2 side promoted from last year to make 16 in Challenge Cup
Go to comments