- England Sevens kick off their IRB Sevens World Series campaign against USA on Friday morning
- Coach Ben Ryan looking for top spot after a successful 2008/09 season
England Sevens coach Ben Ryan believes this year's squad can build on the record-breaking 2008/09 and enjoy even more success in the IRB Sevens World Series, which kicks-off this weekend in Dubai.
Ryan had his most successful season in 2008/09 with England finishing third overall after cup victories in Wellington and London and were just pipped by Fiji for second place at the last leg in Murrayfield.
And with another fierce contest about to kick off in Dubai, Ryan is ready for some action, starting with USA on Friday morning, “We’ve certainly raised the bar this year.” said Ryan.
“All three of the sides in our group are great and probably Kenya, our last game tomorrow, is going to be really tough. It’s great for some of our new guys to jump in at the deep end of international sevens. The Russia and USA sides have come along way and caused us problems in the past. We are going to have three hard games on Friday.
On Tuesday Ryan announced that Saracens scrum half Kevin Barrett would be taking the role of captain for the first two legs of the Series in place of last year’s IRB Sevens Player of the Year Ollie Phillips (Stade Francais).
Continued Ryan, “Ollie’s been missed but there are a few guys that have taken the mantle from him and kept spirits high. Kev is a great player, he’s a good organiser, a clinical professional athlete and I can’t wait for him to lead us out [on Firday] morning at 10.00am."
Ryan’s men arrived in Dubai last week to get their preparations underway early and have had some touch sessions with the Arabian Gulf and Mike Friday’s Samurai side.
“The players have been training hard and over the past few days we have travelled around the field and probably clocked up about 70 kilometres in top speeds that we’ve picked up from our GPS [Global Positioning System]. We are happy but there’s always that nervousness going into the first tournament.
“All the players that are here are capable of lighting up the turf and I can’t wait to see them out there tomorrow morning.” concluded Ryan.
England Sevens squad for Dubai and South Africa
Jake Abbott (Worcester Warriors)
Kevin Barrett (Saracens)
Chris Brightwell (Birmingham & Solihull)
Dan Caprice (Blackheath RFC)
Chris Cracknell (Unattached)
Isoa Damudamu (British Army)
Ben Gollings (Gold Coast, Australia)
Dan Norton (Bristol Rugby)
James Rodwell (Moseley RFC)
Nick Royle (Fylde RFC)
Matt Turner (Bristol Rugby)
Christian Wade (London Wasps)
Emirates Airline Dubai Sevens fixtures:
December 4, England v USA, kick off 10.04am local time (GMT+4)
December 4, England v Russia, kick off 1.40pm local time (GMT+4)
December 4, England v Kenya, kick off 6.52pm local time (GMT+4)
Emirates Airline South Africa Sevens fixtures:
December 11, England v Tunisia, kick off 12.04am local time (GMT +2)
December 11, England v Argentina, kick off 3.10pm local time (GMT +2)
December 11, Scotland v England, kick off 7.32pm local time (GMT +2)