Wednesday 28th September 2005
England Sevens Coach Mike Friday has named his squad for the forthcoming IRB Sevens.  Here are his thoughts on just some of the players likely to be making headlines in the sevens world this season....

Simon Amor (Gloucester):
Simon had a disruptive season last year with all the injuries he had but he is obviously the key to England sevens and has been for the last few years. A lot of what we do both on and off the pitch revolves around simon especially interms of developing the new players.  So we are hopeful that he can remain fit for this season and lead us to a great season and in the commonwealth games.

James Bailey (Gloucester):
James did well last year and is an exciting young player with a lot of good footwork. He is an exciting and attacking prospects and hopefully we will see further improvements from james this year. He played well at the Middx 7s.

Danny Care (Leeds Tykes):
Danny Care burst onto the scene via the JNA and has an immense amount of potential. He is a great footballer very exciting to watch and we feel that he will benefit from being involved in the intense environment of the sevens and playing around the world and educating about life on the pitch and whats expected of him as a player, and also by being in unfamiliar environments and sees how he copes mentally off the pitch as well.

Will Matthews (Gloucester):
Will came in in Singapore a very talented footballer and we are trying to nurture his contact skills and his defensive skills and he is making big improvements and his fitness. Will has made a good impact and we are looking forward to taking that to the next level this season.

Ben Gollings (Sunnybank, Australia):
Ben Gollings – It worked well last year but there is a lot of emphasis on Ben to get himself in the right state both physically and mentally with this distance we have from him during the training periods.  Ben is a very experienced sevens player along with simon and rocky but we won’t know until we see Ben and will make a decision about whether he should be part of the travelling 12 that go to the first leg but Ben speaks for himself really. He is the world record points scorer in the IRB Sevens and has scored a shed load of tries but he needs to do it here and now really and its what he brings to the camp this season that matters both with the team but also developing these youngsters.

Danny Hipkiss (Leicester Tigers):
Danny has been with the England Sevens squad for a couple of years now and is really starting to realise what is expected of a professional rugby player. He has learned to attack space and when to pass the ball and let someone else attack the space and this is an area in which he has greatly improved. Danny is a powerful player with great footwork and is, as with all Leicester players, very committed to rugby, passionate about his game, as well as being very competitive!

Tony Roques (Exeter Chiefs):
Rocky is very similar to Simon in terms of a lot of what we do revolves around him.  He is a first class professional both on and off the pitch and is a player who all the youngsters can look to and learn from. They know what is expected from a player who is a professional athlete and he is fantastically hard working, one of the most consistently fittest and very good at looking after his body both before, during and after tournaments which is an education process for the young players as well.

Ben Russell (Saracens):
Ben Russell very unlucky not have made world cup 12 and he made big steps last season both in his sevens but also in how he transferred that into his 15s game where he played at the end of the season and broke into the side at Saracens. We are looking to build on that success this season with an aim for Ben to a regular premiership player by the end of it.

Mathew Tait (Newcastle Falcons):
Mathew – very pleased to have Taity back in the fold this year.  He made fantastic leaps forward when he played with us last season in Dubai and George and was immensely confident as an attacking force and was excellent with his footwork. He was making his one on one tackles well and we will keep working on that with him.  Every time he has pulled on an England Sevens shirt he has gone out there and made a statement.  I am sure that with him being involved this year he is going to experience a lot of different intense atmospheres and some big competitions with the commonwealth games and the hong kong sevens to push for as well so it’s a big year for him. 

Tom Varndell (Leicester TIgers): 
Pat (Howard) and I have been discussing how best to continue to develop Tom as a player. One specific area we are keen to work on is his one on one defence and attack and we feel that sevens will help develop him in this area. If he plays for England Sevens he will have to face some of the world's best attackers from the likes of New Zealand and Fiji and the wide spaces seen in sevens will make him really focus on this area. 

Andy Vilk (Northampton Saints):
Vilky made his debut in Wellington and is a young player who came into the game relatively late he went through university and then was picked up by northampton and is a very powerful strong player who has again shown what a professional players is. He is meticulous with his planning and preparation and has a very mature head on his young shoulders and he is playing catch up a bit  in terms of his rugby development having come to the game so late but he has made big steps and we are hoping that Andy can push on through the northampton ranks this season.