The Commonwealth Games Council for England today (Tuesday) announced the final 12-man Team England rugby sevens squad who will participate in the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games. 

The 15-man traveling squad has been reduced to 12 who play in Melbourne on Thursday 16th and Friday 17th.  The squad will be captained by Simon Amor, who played in the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games.

The final rugby sevens squad for the Commonwealth Games is:
Simon AMOR (Gloucester) Captain
Danny CARE (Leeds Tykes)
Ben GOLLINGS (Sunnybank, Australia)
Richard HAUGHTON (Saracens)
Magnus LUND (Sale Sharks)
Nils MORDT (London Irish)
Henry PAUL (Gloucester)
Ben RUSSELL (Saracens)
David SEYMOUR (Saracens)
Mathew TAIT (Newcastle Falcons)
Tom VARNDELL (Leicester Tigers)
Andy VILK (Northampton Saints)

England Sevens Coach Mike Friday admitted that reducing the squad was extremely hard, “Every one of the 15 players we brought here deserved a place and it was a very tough decision to make. Although only 12 of them will get to play we are very much a 15-man squad and the three players not playing will be just as important to the success of this squad as those on the pitch.  That’s what being a team is all about.”

England begin their Commonwealth campaign on Thursday at the Telstra Dome with pool stage matches against Cook Islands, Sri Lanka and home nation Australia.  Captain Simon Amor said, “Everyone seems to be focusing on our match against Australia but in sevens you have to beat six different teams if you want to win so we are not concentrating just on the Australians.”

The squad have been preparing for the Games in a camp on Australia’s Gold Coast.  Simon is pleased with how the camp has gone, “The camp has gone very well. It has been great to have this opportunity to spend time together before a tournament. Normally we just have a few days but here we have been fortunate enough to get a good ten days in camp before traveling down to Melbourne for the Games.  It has enabled us to do certain types of training that we don’t normally have the chance to do, and has given us great preparation time.”

The squad arrive in Melbourne this evening ahead of the opening ceremony at the MCG tomorrow night (Wednesday).

Media are invited to attend the Captain’s Run at the Telstra Dome at 12 noon on Wednesday (15th).

Vision opportunities are available from 12.00pm – 12.30pm only.  All 12 players and coaches (Mike Friday and Phil Greening) are available for interview in the media centre at the Telstra Dome from 1.00pm – 2.00pm on Wednesday following Captain’s Run.

For interviews with players and coaches please contact Sally Price, England Sevens Media Manager on 07801 802 711.

For all other Team England enquiries please contact: The Team England Press Office at Matchtight Ltd on 01225 383518 or Games Communication Centre Phone: +61 3 8855 3333
You can also check the Commonwealth Games Council for England website at www.cgce.co.uk <http://www.cgce.co.uk/>

Match timings:
Thursday 16th March:
England v. Cook Islands 12.52pm (1.52am GMT)
England v. Sri Lanka 6.44pm (7.44am GMT)
England v. Australia 10.12pm (11.12am GMT)
(Melbourne is 11 hours ahead of GMT)

Notes for Editors:
The Commonwealth Games Council for England (CGCE) is the organisation responsible for selecting and organising England's team for the Commonwealth Games. Team England will participate in all of the 16 programme sports at the 2006 Games in Melbourne. Team England has competed in every Games since 1930.

At the last Commonwealth Games, held in Manchester, Team England finished second on the overall medal table with 54 gold, 52 silver and 60 bronze medals, when England had home advantage and took the biggest team in its history to the Games.

Sport England invests Lottery and Exchequer funds into sport across the country. Its aim is to encourage people of all ages to start, stay and succeed in sport at every level and make England the most active and successful sporting nation.

Sport England has invested more than £2.2bn of Lottery funds into sport across England and more than £550 million from the Exchequer.

Ends.
Sally Price, England Sevens Media Manager 07801 802 711.