Ollie Lindsay-Hague

Harlequins utility back Lindsay-Hague had been out of action since helping England lift the Emirates Airline Dubai Sevens title in December when he touched down twice in the semi final win over New Zealand and against Samoa in the final.

He recovered from injury to make his first two Aviva Premiership starts for Harlequins and heads out next week for the Cathay Pacific Credit Suisse Hong Kong Sevens which takes place on March 25-27.

Lindsay-Hague takes over from Simon Hunt, who is in Championship play-off action for Birmingham and Solihull, while London Irish wing Watson, who appeared for England at Under 20 level last season, travels as the 13^th man.

“It’s great to have Ollie back now he’s fit again and he comes back having started the last two Aviva Premiership games,” said head coach Ben Ryan.

“He’s a confident young lad who’s playing well at the moment which is good for him, for Quins and for us.

“Marcus is a quality outside back who’s already appeared in the Premiership as well as at a Junior World Championship. He’s been training with us throughout this season and he’ll travel out as part of the squad before we make our decision on the 12 before each of the two tournaments.”

Another former England Under 20 wing, Mark Odejobi (Esher and Brunel University), keeps his place after taking over from injured British Army forward Isoa Damudamu (shoulder) in Las Vegas last month.

England lead the HSBC Sevens World Series at the half-way markand face the USA, Japan and China in the pool stages at the Hong Kong Stadium in So Kon Po.

England Sevens squad for Hong Kong and Adelaide
Greg Barden (Royal Navy)
John Brake (England Sevens)
Dan Caprice (England Sevens)
Chris Cracknell (England Sevens)
Ben Gollings (England Sevens, captain)
Ollie Lindsay-Hague (Harlequins)
Dan Norton (Bristol Rugby)
Mark Odejobi (Esher & Brunel University)
Tom Powell (England Sevens)
James Rodwell (England Sevens)
Nick Royle (England Sevens)
Mathew Turner (England Sevens)
Marcus Watson (London Irish)

Coach John Fletcher was always confident that his side had the talent to test the visitors and they fulfilled all his expectations in holding the whip-hand from the moment full-back Jonathan Joseph (London Irish) crossed for the opening try and fly-half Jake Sharp (Saracens) converted.

Sharp claimed the second after 19 minutes and converted his own score for a 14-0 lead and while Australian centre Matthew Garland cut the deficit with a 29th minute try to raise the visitors’ morale and make the interval scoreline 14-5.

However, a third try from wingman Earl Collins (Worcester Warriors) on 40 minutes opened up the lead once again, although once again the tourists refused to concede the struggle and rallied with a try by flanker Jack de Guingand that scrum-half and captain Matthew Lucas converted to bring his side within a score at 19-12.

Sharp then steadied the home team’s nerves with a penalty before leaving the field as a precaution ahead of an outing on the Saracens bench against Castres on Friday, but Joseph had the last word when he crossed for the final try after 68 minutes.

A cameo moment for the hosts came when 16-year-old replacement centre Mark Jennings from Lymm High School and Sale Sharks took the field when the management elected to use all their replacements.

The tourists now stay in the North West to prepare for their next game, an international against England Under 18s at Sale FC’s Heywood Road headquarters on Sunday (2pm), when coach Fletcher will once again be in charge.

“The game was very tough, physical battle,” said Fletcher: “We lacked precision at times and it was a bit scrappy but for us to score four tries against opposition of that calibre after only half a day’s preparation was a pretty good effort,” said Fletcher. “So far as the tourists are concerned, they compete well for the ball and they are very dangerous in broken play situations, as you would expect.”

England U19 Regional Academies 27 (Tries: Joseph 2, Sharp, Collins. Con: Sharp 2. Pen: Sharp) Australia Schools 12 (Tries: Garland, De Guingand. Con: Lucas)

England Academies squad: forwards: Harry Allen (Saracens), Pete Austin (London Irish), Ryan Bower (Leicester Tigers), Matt Everard (Leicester Tigers), Ben Glynn (Bristol Rugby), Tom Hicks (Northampton Saints), Sam Jones (London Wasps), Charlie Matthews (Harlequins), Jethro Rawling (Leicester Tigers), Ollie Steadman (Leeds Carnegie), Henry Thomas (Sales Sharks), Mako Vunipola (Bristol Rugby). Backs: Tommy Bell (Sales Sharks), Earl Collins (Worcester Warriors), Owen Farrell (Saracens), Ryan Glynn (Sales Sharks), Mark Jennings (Sale Sharks), Jonathan Joseph (London Irish), Jake Sharp (Saracens), Andy Short (Worcester), Sam Stuart (Harlequins), Marcus Watson (London Irish).

Catt will play at inside centre on a pitch that he knows intimately from his 12 years with the West Country club. The England Rugby World Cup winner is one of four changes to the starting line-up of the London Irish team that played Newcastle Falcons last weekend.

In the front row David Paice and Alex Corbisiero start at hooker and tight head prop respectively while Richard Thorpe comes into the back row at blindside flanker. Having completed his duties with England, Paul Hodgson returns to the match squad where he is named among the replacements.

“We are not used to losing in the Guinness Premiership and want to return to winning ways tomorrow evening,” said Toby Booth, London Irish Head Coach. “We’ve trained exceptionally well and honestly after last weekend’s disappointment and are expecting to perform much more competitively against Bath.”

Team:

15. Jamie Lennard; 14. Peter Hewat; 13. Elvis Seveali’i; 12. Mike Catt; 11. John Rudd; 10. Ryan Lamb; 9. Peter Richards; 1. Clarke Dermody; 2. David Paice; 3. Alex Corbisiero; 4. Nick Kennedy; 5. Bob Casey (captain); 6. Richard Thorpe; 7. Steffon Armitage; 8. Chris Hala’Ufia.

Replacements:

16. Danie Coetzee; 17. Dan Murphy; 18. Max Lahiff; 19. Kieran Roche; 20. Jonathon Fisher; 21. Marcus Watson; 22. Paul Hodgson; 23. Chris Malone.