England Women announce squad for RND 2 of Sevens World Series

Posted on Jan 25, 2013 in England Sevens, England Women

England’s Katy McLean, Alexandra Matthews and Marlie Packer are set to make their Women’s Sevens World Series (WSWS) debuts on February 1-2 when Houston, Texas, hosts round two of the series.

McLean and Matthews featured for England in an uncapped tournament in France last season whilst Marlie Packer is set to pull on the England Sevens shirt for the very first time. The trio are part of a 17-woman training squad that are preparing for the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Moscow in June.

Richmond’s Alice Richardson will captain England in Houston with Lichfield’s Emily Scarratt named as vice-captain. Richardson and Scarratt are joined in the squad by some seasoned Sevens players including Michaela Staniford, Heather Fisher, Katherine Merchant and Joanne Watmore.

England Women’s Sevens Head Coach Barry Maddocks said: “I am really excited to include Katy, Alex and Marlie in this squad. The three of them are already really good rugby players but they have still got a lot to learn about sevens rugby. This is a great opportunity for them and I am sure they will do themselves proud. I am certainly really excited to see how they do in Houston.”

England head into round two of the WSWS on the back of a seventh place finish in Dubai after fielding a young side for the opener. This time around England have more experience but they face a tough start after being drawn against New Zealand, the Netherlands and Trinidad & Tobago in their pool.

Maddocks added: “This is a really tough pool undoubtedly but for us this tournament is about measuring where we are in relation to our opponents as we continue to prepare and build for the RWC Sevens. It is going to be hard but we will focus on each game as it comes and I know the players will put every effort into putting ourselves into the best possible place we can be at this stage of our journey.”

Picture: Marlie Packer is set to make her England Sevens debut

England Sevens

Heather Fisher (Worcester)

Sarah Guest (Worcester)

Natasha Hunt           (Lichfield)

Ruth   Laybourn       (Darlington Mowden Park Sharks)

Alexandra      Matthews       (Richmond)

Katy    McLean          (Darlington Mowden Park Sharks)

Katherine      Merchant       (Worcester)

Marlie Packer            (Bristol)

Alice   Richardson (C)         (Richmond)

Emily  Scarratt (VC) (Lichfield)

Michaela        Staniford        (Wasps)

Joanne          Watmore        (Worcester)

WSWS RND 2 Houston, Texas

Feb 1

England v Netherlands KO 810pm GMT

England v Trinidad & Tobago KO 10.54pm GMT

England v New Zealand KO 1.38am GMT

Feb 2

Knock out stages

England Sevens make changes for fourth leg of HSBC Sevens World Series

Posted on Jan 18, 2013 in England Sevens

England have made three changes to their squad for next month’s Hertz Sevens in New Zealand

Head coach Ben Ryan welcomes back Mathew Turner and Christian Lewis-Pratt from injury with Sam Edgerley also heading for Wellington for the February 1-2 tournament.

England, who depart for Wellington next week, face hosts New Zealand, the USA and Spain on the opening day of the fourth leg of the HSBC Sevens World Series.

And Ryan is happy to have more players becoming available as the injury crisis that struck England in the opening rounds begins to ease.

Turner – last year’s leading global try-scorer – broke an ankle in the opening leg of the series in October, while Lewis-Pratt missed out on legs two and three in Dubai and Port Elizabeth with an ankle injury.

Chris Cracknell (knee reconstruction), Tom Mitchell (broken leg) and former captain Ollie Phillips (calf) are sidelined but uncapped forwards Mike Ellery (back) and Jack Preece (knee reconstruction) are close to comebacks and in the final stages of rehabilitation. Also ruled out of the next leg were Mark Odejobi (foot) and Ollie Marchon (ankle).

"We’re slowly getting players fit again so by the time we get to (leg six) in Hong Kong we should have everyone available so the outlook’s getting brighter," said Ryan.

"It’s good to welcome back Mat and Christian, who are influential players, and we’ll be easing them back into action in New Zealand.

"But we face a very tough first day in Wellington. New Zealand will be a very difficult assignment in the opening game and the USA and Spain have both stepped up a gear this season.

"We’ve worked very hard since the last leg in Port Elizabeth and our aim is to continue improving the level of our performance on our previous three outings."

England’s recent record in Wellington is good. They won the title there in 2009, reached the semi finals in 2010, were beaten finalists in 2011 and Lewis-Pratt’s two tries helped them win the third place play-off against Samoa last season.

England squad: Dan Bibby, John Brake, Chris Brightwell, Sam Edgerley, Christian Lewis-Pratt, Dan Norton, Tom Powell, James Rodwell, Mathew Turner, Rob Vickerman (captain), Marcus Watson, Jeff Williams.

Consistency the key for England

Posted on Oct 12, 2012 in England Sevens

More consistency is the key for England as they prepare to kick off the HSBC Sevens World Series on the Gold Coast in Queensland.

England have picked up individual tournament titles and reached other finals on the way to third-place finishes in the last two seasons.

They start the new campaign with matches against Kenya, Spain and Samoa on Day One at Skilled Park with Australia or Fiji their potential quarter final opponents in the first leg of the nine-event global tour that ends with the Marriott London Sevens at Twickenham in May.

Head coach Ben Ryan has firepower at his disposal in the shape of Matt Turner and Dan Norton, the top two try-scorers in the world last season.

And adding extra resources to his squad this summer – allied to an intense pre-season build-up – makes him optimistic ahead of the world series marathon that is followed by a sprint to the Rugby World Cup Sevens next June.

“I think England are on an upward curve this season and are well placed to do better because we’ve had increased resources, but everybody knows just having a bigger cheque to plan your squad around doesn’t necessarily mean success,” said Ryan.

“We’ve got a consistent group of players who have worked really hard on how we want to play the game and the penny is dropping for them. As a coach you can see it and I can see that we’ve got improvements everywhere.”

Former Newcastle Falcons and Leeds Carnegie centre Rob Vickerman leads England into the campaign that has generated extra publicity following sevens’ new-found Olympic status.

“It’s no lie to say we’re in our best ever shape,” said Vickerman.

“We’ve got a full-time squad of 19 payers which has added to the competition, the intensity has gone up, we’ve got more back room staff than ever before and the facilities we’ve been able to use are top notch.

“We’re coming into this series with the aim of being consistent performers whereas before we’ve been there or thereabouts in one or two tournaments and we want to step that up.

“It’s been a long pre-season and we’ve worked hard and now we want to test out the water. We’re getting more coverage than ever before, we’ve got our own internal pressure and we want that pressure to fuel our excitement.”

Preview to round 1 of 2012/13 HSBC Sevens World Series with England Sevens coach Ben Ryan and captain Rob Vickerman

Posted on Oct 12, 2012 in England Sevens, Sevens

Before the start of the first round of the 2012/2013 HSBC Sevens World Series on Australia’s Gold Coast we take a look back at last Series champions New Zealand, England Sevens Ben Ryan and Rob Vickerman talk about the their hopes for the tournament, the series in general, and Ben reveals how FC Barcelona has influenced his team’s style.

The England Sevens Head Coach reports from Australia on the eve of the HSBC Sevens World Series which starts on Gold Coast this Saturday.

The HSBC Sevens World Series starts up this weekend after a break of four months, and what a busy four months that has been. We won the three-tournament European GP Series, coach Russell Earnshaw led a GB Students side to the World Universities title and our programme has expanded as we drive standards higher.

Nineteen young men in England are now full-time international sevens players and 12 of them play this weekend on the Gold Coast in round one of nine. Competition is high for selection and it’s been well documented how fit and strong our squad are.

But it won’t win you tournaments if you get out there, look great in the tight shirts and then run around without a clue. The fitness, speed and sheer athleticism of our players often gets top billing on any news coming out of the camp but it only tells a small part of our story.

We have all sat and cheered in awe at the brilliant performances throughout a dramatic summer of sport back home and now it’s time for us to get up and get going. Come on England! Ben Ryan

Let’s be straightforward about this: our professional players these days, to be the best, need to get their conditioning and their nutrition spot on. They won’t be seen rolling out of late-night bars or burger joints because, frankly, they no longer live that lifestyle.

All the stuff we do to get them in great shape comes from doing the simple things well; measuring and managing them and understanding individual nuances through data and experience. I would expect all the other rival teams to have ticked those boxes as well as we have.

The difference in sides winning or losing at the very top of the international game comes down to execution if their strategy is right. Many teams we play against have a similar formula.

In attack they stretch teams to effectively disconnect defenders and find space. In defence they try to stay connected as a team and force errors or lead teams into areas in which they feel confident they will turn the ball over. Success relies on them executing their strategies and hoping they are the right ones!

With England we have a style we have worked hard on and that needs to be executed against all the teams consistently to bring us success. It’s my job and Russell’s job to make sure the way we approach the game stands up to whatever is thrown at it and the players all understand how to play it. It’s a great challenge.

It is also about understanding your players, working out how they like to learn, and what helps them get the best out of each other. Then that needs to shared among the players so they all know as much as they can about each other.

All this is designed to make the team run as well as possible and it’s a process you have to invest time in to turn a great team of players into a team that is great. This week, until we kick off on Saturday, the players will run the sessions we have planned.

I love watching the team run a practice session as I (metaphorically at least), get in my helicopter to look at the bigger picture from above.

It’s certainly an exciting time for everyone supporting and connected to England Sevens. The lads are well prepared for the Gold Coast Sevens as are all the squad and management for the year ahead.

Mat Turner is happy to be a marked man

Posted on Oct 9, 2012 in England Sevens

Mat Turner is happy to be a marked man going into the start of the HSBC Sevens World Series.

The 24 year old was the leading try-scorer in the
2011-12 campaign, touching down 38 times, once more than his teammate Dan Norton, in the course of the nine tournaments.

Turner was also a nominee for World Player of the Year – an award he covets in 2012-13 – but he argues any extra attention coming his way will simply open up more space for the other players in an England squad he believes is their ‘best ever’.

“Last year was my first proper year cementing a starting spot and it gave me an opportunity to build performances one after the other.” said Turner.

“It was my best year so far and that’s a tribute to [Head Coach] Ben Ryan changing the game plan to work for our individual strengths.

“I want to be player of the year this year. It was one of my goals last year and I was just short. Top try-scorer was never a goal but somehow the boys put me in the right place at the right time and I managed to beat Dan Norton by one. I’m sure he’ll beat me by two this year to show he’s the better try-scorer.

“Do I worry about pressure? I hope people look at me and say ‘what’s he going to produce?’ It’s more of a challenge and if they start marking me up more they’ll give our other guys more room. And you can’t give any of our guys half a yard.”

England start the 2012-13 series with a settled squad of capped players and 10 of the 12 in transit to the Gold Coast Sevens on October 13-14 have lifted titles, most recently in Dubai last December.

Added to that stability, Turner believes the squad are in better physical shape than ever for the punishing tournament format which sees them play six high-intensity games in two days.

He said: “This is the best squad we’ve had. I came in late into pre-season and I was shocked at the pace the guys were running at, their physicality and the condition they were in. It’s a tribute to the coaching staff that we’re in such great shape. If you watched a video of us training and compared it to a year ago, you’d think last year’s team was a semi-pro one. There’s been a huge leap.

“Last year we’d get to Day Two a bit bumped and bruised but now we’re the fittest we’ve ever been. Dan Norton broke the England fitness testing records and it didn’t even look like he was trying that hard. He just cruised. It was scary to watch him just glide along.

“That’s going to make a difference in the way we play. Everyone knows we’ve got wheels [speed]. Now we can keep running and running and when there’s 13 minutes 50 seconds on the clock we can still go 100metres and score a try.”

To mount a challenge for a first series title, though, England need to win more tournaments after a single victory in each of the last two years. They beat New Zealand only once last season and despite a winning record against Fiji, they finished behind the Islanders in third place.

“What lost us big games and finals last year was our mistakes and we’ve been focusing on that, on ourselves and what we do rather than on the opposition. If we do what we do, and do it right, we’ll win games,” added Turner.

“We’ve beaten New Zealand and Fiji, so we know we can do it, and we’ve got guys with a huge amount of experience. Ten of the 12 have won titles. We’ve just got to channel that right.”

England name squad for opening leg of HSBC Sevens World Series

Posted on Sep 28, 2012 in England Sevens

England today announced their 12-man squad for the first leg of this season’s HSBC Sevens World Series.

The Gold Coast Sevens on October 13-14 is the first event of the new Olympic sport’s biggest ever season, which sees nine legs of the global series followed by the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Moscow next June.

Head Coach Ben Ryan has the top two try-scorers in world sevens in the shape of Mathew Turner and Dan Norton in an experienced squad led by Rob Vickerman that contains 10 players who have won major international tournaments.

The England Sevens programme has expanded to 19 full-time players this season, increasing strength in depth and competition for places, and making selection for Ryan tougher than ever.

“Every training session is very competitive and everyone pushes each other on – we’ve had a fair bit of niggle over the last few months, too, because everyone’s been itching to get on the plane," said Ryan.

“That competition for places has given us some very healthy dilemmas when it comes to selection and we’ve left players out who will have an important role to play in our title bid.

“We’re certainly pacier and fitter than we’ve ever been and probably the quickest side around. These are fantastic athletes and they’re in terrific shape.

“But we expect everyone we come up against to be like that. The difference now will be getting it right on the field technically over the HSBC Sevens World Series, which is a bit of a marathon, followed by a sprint at the Sevens World Cup in Moscow.”

Among those who miss out on the trip to Australia is former World Player of the Year Ollie Phillips.

“One or two injuries have put him a couple of weeks away from his absolute best but he’ll be in great shape by the time we get to legs two and three in Dubai and Port Elizabeth,” Ryan added.

There are two changes to the squad that appeared in the Marriott London Sevens, the final leg of last season’s series. Returning from injury are playmakers Marcus Watson and Christian Lewis-Pratt – who both featured in England’s Dubai tournament victory last year – with Sam Edgerley and Dan Bibby making way.

England, who finished third in last year’s series, face Kenya, Spain and Samoa on the Gold Coast opening day at Skilled Park with Australia and Fiji potential quarter final opponents.

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