Thursday 24th May 2007

England Sevens Coach Ben Ryan has called up uncapped Saracens winger Noah Cato ahead of this weekend's Emirates Airline London Sevens at Twickenham.  Cato replaces David Doherty of London Wasps and joins an experienced line up who will be captained by Simon Amor (London Wasps).  Speaking on the selection Ryan said, "Noah is an exciting young talent who has played England Under 19s and 20s this season.  I was impressed by his performance at the recent Under 19s World Cup - especially his try against the Argentineans.  We had a few youngsters training with us this week and Noah just pipped them to the post to be selected in David's place.  He is quick and strong and is excited to be playing at Twickenham."
 
England have been training at their usual base in West London this week and even played a warm up match against Argentina yesterday.  Ryan said, "It was good to test ourselves against the Pumas and it was useful to just get some game time and blow the cobwebs away.  Everyone is keen to put in a good performance this weekend and not let the home crowd down.  The players all know the importance of finishing the season on a high and we do have some things in our favour this weekend given it is our home tournament.  There is good consistency with only one new cap in the squad and it has helped us in training as everyone knows the basics and we can focus on detail."
 
The Emirates Airline London Sevens is staged at Twickenham on Saturday 26th & Sunday 27th May.  Vic Sheppard, Vice Presdent, UK & Ireland, Emirates said, "As Official Sponsor of the England team, Emirates would like to congratulate all of the players that have been selected for the last two legs of the IRB Sevens Series.  The hard work and commitment that all of the players have put into their games throughout the season has paid off. We look forward to seeing a strong England side take on the might of the other sevens nations in both the Emirates Airline London Sevens and the Emirates Airline Edinburgh Sevens."