Wednesday 7th February 2007
Saints go marching in to San Diego
Baby of the England Sevens squad, David Smith of Northampton Saints, has been joined in San Diego by his Saints Academy team mate John Brake. Brake has flown out to join the England Sevens squad ahead of this weekend’s IRB Sevens in San Diego due to player injuries.
Brake, 18, will make his debut for England when the IRB Sevens tournament begins on Saturday. He explains that the England selection came out of the blue, “I was actually on holiday in Egypt last Friday with some friends as part of a mid-season break, and received a call from James Sinclair from Saints. I then got a call from England asking me to fly out. It was a frantic couple of days trying to get me on a flight back to England and then out to Los Angeles as soon as possible so I could get over the jetlag before the tournament.”
Brake may not have played England Sevens before but he has been part of the Samurai St George squad and has played invitational tournaments in Bangkok and Dubai. His team mates in Dubai in December included England’s Tony Roques, Charlie Amesbury and Danny Gray. Brake says, “It was great playing in Dubai. I thought it was fantastic to get the call up to play for Samurai in Bangkok but then when I got invited to Dubai it was like all my Christmasses had come at once. The St George team, who reached the final, has a very similar structure and culture as England and I got to know Tony, Danny and Charlie which meant at least I knew some people in the England squad when I arrived on Monday.”
Brake is actually rooming with Tony Roques, who at 28 is the eldest member of the squad. Brake says, “I learned a lot from playing with Tony out in Dubai as he is a very experienced sevens player who has been involved with England for years. It is quite funny that I am rooming with him as he is ten years older than me! He says I am keeping him young! But he is great and gives me a lot of advice. We spent some time going through various tournaments on DVD last night and I feel I am picking everything up well.”
As a former Millfield student, Brake is no stranger to rugby and was four years below another England Sevens squad member Will Matthews (who is not in San Diego due to injury). He does admit that rugby may not have always been his first choice however. “When I went to school it was football that I intended to play. I was hoping to join QPR and move to London and play football. I did play rugby when I was younger – beginning with Canterbury RFC where my dad was a coach – but football was my first choice at that age. It was only when I got to Millfield and there was such a focus on rugby that my love of rugby really began. Millfield always played in the Rosslyn Park Schools Sevens and I played in it five times – winning three times and coming runners up twice.”
Brake excelled at rugby and was selected for England Under 18 alongside his England Sevens team mate David Smith. He then joined the Saints Academy in his last year at school and became full time last year. The two admit that they spend quite a lot of time together and nickname each other ‘Serious Dave’ and ‘Squirrel’ (after the nutty squirrel in the film Over the Hedge’.
David, younger by a couple of months than Brake, made his debut last week in Wellington and has been able to give his Saints team mate and friend some advice. David said, “I have told him what an amazing experience it is and told him to enjoy it. You learn so much by spending time training with England and playing against the top countries. Hopefully the crowd will love us a bit more than last week in New Zealand.”
Brake says he is ‘more excited than nervous’ about his debut whilst Smith can’t wait for the tournament to begin. Smith sums it up “All the squad become so close during the week and the tournament and it is an immense experience. I have told John to make sure he enjoys it and gets as much from the training and experience of playing for his country as he can.”
Keep up to date with David and John’s progress this weekend at rfu.com/sevens
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