England make three changes in squad for Glasgow Sevens

Posted on May 2, 2012 in England Sevens

Dan Bibby is set to win his first cap after being named in the England squad for this weekend’s penultimate leg of the HSBC Sevens World Series in Glasgow.

The UWIC playmaker heads for his first tournament with former England Under 20 wing Mark Odejobi in the squad for the first time this season and Chris Cracknell returning from injury.

The three changes from the last leg in Tokyo see them take over from Harlequins wing Charlie Walker, injured playmaker Christian Lewis-Pratt and former captain Greg Barden, who has retired.

England Students full back Bibby, 21, has trained with the squad all season and the former Fylde player impressed for Sale Sharks last summer when named Player of the Tournament at the Edgeley Park leg of the JP Morgan Premiership Sevens.

Odejobi ruptured an Achilles tendon last year and spent six months in rehab before re-joining the group in January while Cracknell had been ever-present in the squad this season before sitting out the last leg of the series in Tokyo with a shoulder injury.

“Dan Bibby’s an exciting talent who’s definitely one for the future and he’s trained with us throughout the season, including appearing in our warm-up tournament in Spain on the eve of the series,” said head coach Ben Ryan.

“It’s been a long road back for Mark Odejobi who played for us last season. He’s worked very hard to get fit and he’s trained well to keep out two very experienced sevens players in [former captain] Andy Vilk and Simon Hunt. It’s great to have Chris Cracknell back after missing him in Tokyo too.”

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England name captain for HSBC Sevens World Series

Posted on Nov 22, 2011 in Latest Rugby News

Greg Barden will lead England in this season’s HSBC Sevens World Series after being named as the side’s new captain today.

The former Royal Marine from Poole takes charge for the first time when England kick off the campaign in the Gold Coast Sevens on Friday.

Barden will be supported by vice captain Rob Vickerman, who joined England Sevens from Newcastle Falcons this summer, with senior player Chris Cracknell next in line when Barden and Vickerman are not on the field.

Head coach Ben Ryan said: “We’ve got a good group of senior players who’ve led the squad well, three of them being Greg Barden, Rob Vickerman and Chris Cracknell.

“Greg has enormous respect from everyone. He’s quiet but when he does speak everyone listens and he leads by example.

“His last appearance for us was in the Hong Kong final when he was absolutely outstanding. He really does epitomise wanting to give everything you possibly can when wearing an England shirt.”

Barden, 30, has appeared in 11 World Series tournaments for England and joined the squad as a full-time player this year after leaving the military. He previously played for Bristol Rugby and Newbury as well as the Royal Navy.

He said: “The captaincy is a huge honour. It’s a big ask from Ben [Ryan] to take on that responsibility but hopefully it’s something I’ll thrive on and enjoy immensely throughout the season.

“Throughout the squad there’s a huge amount of experience that we can draw upon. Rob Vickerman’s been with the sevens before and in the Aviva Premiership with Newcastle and Leeds so his experience is second to none. Chris Cracknell has been in the fold for quite a few years now, James Rodwell’s got 25 tournaments under his belt, the list goes on.”

England trained twice today, first at Surfers Paradise RFC and then at The Southport School – alma mater to Wallabies Tom Lawton, Mat Rogers  and Nathan Sharpe – where they played conditioned games against Japan and Fiji.

They face Scotland (03.19 GMT), Tonga (06.25) and Wales (10.52) in Pool D on the tournament’s opening day. The top two sides in the pool are likely to face either New Zealand or Fiji in the quarter finals.

England 7s reaction from the squad

Posted on Dec 6, 2010 in Rugby News

England produced a series of stunning performances to lift the Emirates Airline Dubai Sevens trophy after coming from behind three times to beat Australia (24-21), New Zealand (19-14) and Samoa (29-21) in the knock-out stages and start the HSBC Sevens World Series in style.

They did so after losing on the opening day to Portugal and only rescuing a place in the last eight by beating Fiji with a try from the last play of the game.

England Sevens head coach Ben Ryan:

“We dug ourselves out of a great hole against Fiji and we played really well in the last three games. We all sat down last night and said it wasn’t the case of giving ourselves a pat on the back for beating Fiji. It was a reminder that we had to make the most of our chances and learn from what happened which we did. We can fight with the best of them and the boys proved that. We were relaxed and we were ruthless and it’s a good combination and they managed to hang on to that.

“Ollie Lindsay-Hague was brilliant, wasn’t he? He made a big difference as did Chris Cracknell. He was a rock and made some really good decisions. We’ve got some talented youngsters back home and Ollie played with the real exuberance of youth

“We’ve got to remain pretty humble. We’ve won one tournament at the beginning of the year but everyone will regroup and try and have a crack at us next weekend. The proof will be in how we run out in George next weekend.”

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England Sevens win South Africa plate

Posted on Dec 14, 2009 in Rugby News

England beat South Africa 21-7 to win the plate at the Emirates Airline South Africa Sevens.

It was only the second time England had beaten the Boks in sevens on South African soil in what was a hyper-competitive plate competition.

England had to bounce back from their cup loss against winners New Zealand to beat Australia 24-5 in the plate semi final.

The last time an England side had beaten a South Africa side on their home patch was in 2003, but with Christian Wade (London Wasps), Worcester’s Jake Abbott, Ben Gollings (Gold Coast) and Isoa Damudamu (British Army) in inspired form Ben Ryan’s side ground out an impressive win, the biggest defeat Paul Treu’s side had faced in 80 matches.

England add 12 points to their World Series tally which puts them in third place behind Fiji and New Zealand respectively after reaching the Dubai cup semi final earlier this month.

England: Jake Abbott (Worcester Warriors), Kevin Barrett (capt, Saracens), Chris Brightwell (Birmingham & Solihull), Dan Caprice (Blackheath RFC), Chris Cracknell (Unattached), Isoa Damudamu (British Army), Ben Gollings (Gold Coast, Australia), Dan Norton (Bristol Rugby), James Rodwell (Moseley RFC), Nick Royle (Fylde RFC), Matt Turner (Bristol Rugby), Christian Wade (London Wasps)

England Sevens Emirates Airline South Africa Sevens results:

• December 11, England 42-0 Tunisia
• December 11, England 17-7 Argentina
• December 11, Scotland 19-29 England
• December 12, cup quarter final England 19-22 New Zealand
• December 12, plate semi final England 24-5 Australia
• December 12, plate final England 21-7 South Africa

Warriors swoop for sevens star Cracknell

Posted on Dec 14, 2009 in Rugby News

Worcester Warriors have announced the signing of England Sevens star Chris Cracknell until the end of the 2009/10 season. The highly-rated Windsor-born back row, recently on England Sevens duty in Dubai, will link up with his new team-mates at Sixways Stadium from Monday.

The 25-year-old has previously played at Bath Rugby, Exeter Chiefs, Cornish Pirates, Newbury and Harlequins.

A hugely gifted Sevens performer, Cracknell earned rave reviews just last week as he scored two tries as England were narrowly beaten in the IRB Dubai Sevens, where he played alongside new Worcester team-mate Jake Abbott.

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