Ireland head coach Declan Kidney has named a 29 man squad that includes three uncapped players for the three test tour of New Zealand in June.
Declan Fitzpatrick and Mike Sherry are included up front while Simon Zebo is named in the backs as is Darren Cave, who won two caps on the North American tour in 2009.
There are a number of spaces left vacant with a further prop, second row, back row and scrum half to be added before the squad departs for New Zealand.
Brian O’Driscoll returns to the Ireland squad for the first time since the Rugby World Cup and has been confirmed as Captain for the tour.
On the same night that New Zealand were crowned HSBC Sevens World Series champions for 2011/12, their playmaker Tomasi Cama has been named IRB Sevens Player of the Year in association with HSBC.
Fijian-born Cama was up for the award for the second year running, having lost out to South Africa’s Cecil Afrika last season.
Once again he has been a key factor behind New Zealand’s excellence and the creative spark behind their 10th World Series success.
"It feels awesome. It’s just a reward for all the hard work from the boys. Without them it would have been impossible to receive this award. I want to thank them as well," Cama said.
"I concentrate on my game and I control what I can control, but to get this is an awesome feeling. Once you have been there for a while you know and understand what’s going on and that’s where the experience comes in.
"For me I just like going out there and enjoying the game, enjoy myself and do what I do best."
Cama fought off stiff competition from compatriot Frank Halai and England’s Mat Turner to win the coveted individual accolade.
As well as finishing the season with 34 tries, Cama’s impeccable drop-kicking helped him to 390 points for the season, the leading mark.
He also ends the season second in the all time point-scoring charts with 1,627, behind only England’s Ben Gollings.
Cama becomes the fourth New Zealand player to win the prize, following Orene Ai’i, Afeleke Pelenise and his captain DJ Forbes.
New Zealand have retained their HSBC Sevens World Series title, ending the season with a third place finish at the Marriott London Sevens to finish on 167 Series points, six ahead of closest rivals Fiji.
The New Zealanders sealed a 10th Series title with a ruthless 36-0 quarter final win against South Africa, but fell to a brilliant Fijian performance in the semi final. However, the New Zealanders recovered to end the season on a high note, beating Argentina in the play-off for bronze.
The Fijians stormed to the London title to cap a season of achievement for them, matching New Zealand’s three Cup titles and underlining just how tight things are at the top of the Sevens game.
A record two-day Sevens crowd of 103,027 attended Twickenham over the weekend, a fitting climax to another thrilling season of international Rugby Sevens.
"It’s pretty special, we worked extremely hard to get this one and I think everyone knows how competitive the Sevens Series is now. We came here with an 11-point lead but still with an opportunity of blowing it," said NZ captain, DJ Forbes.
"The quarter final win (36-0 win against South Africa) was probably our only complete game of rugby this weekend, but there was a lot of passion, a lot behind it to make sure we wrapped up the Series.
"At the end of the day it comes down to consistency and that’s where we were probably a little bit ahead, but taking nothing away from Fiji, they’ve done extremely well to win here.
"I guess for us you could see that we’re used to playing under pressure, regardless of where we’re playing. If you’re wearing a black jersey everyone expects you to do well."
IRB Chairman Bernard Lapasset said: "Once again New Zealand have proved that, over the course of an entire season, they are the finest Sevens side in the world and our congratulations go to them.
"And yet even on this, their day of triumph, they were denied in the Cup semi-finals by their closest challengers Fiji, which again underlines just how competitive our global Game of Rugby Sevens has become.
"In the women’s event too we have seen a wonderful tournament from the Netherlands in reaching a first Cup title and congratulations to England on winning their second title of the season.
"Twickenham has provided a wonderful and fitting stage for the finale of another superb season, capped off by another record crowd for a two-day event. We can look forward to a bright future as we gear towards the 2016 Olympic Games."
Australia took the Plate in London, beating England, who finished the season in third place ahead of Samoa in fourth and South Africa in fifth.
A record two-day Sevens crowd of 103,027 attended Twickenham over the weekend, a fitting climax to another thrilling season of international Rugby Sevens.
The Fijians stormed to the London title to cap a season of achievement for them, matching New Zealand’s three Cup titles and underlining just how tight things are at the top of the Sevens game.
The New Zealanders sealed a 10th Series title with a ruthless 36-0 quarter final win against South Africa, but fell to a brilliant Fijian performance in the semi final. However, the New Zealanders recovered to end the season on a high note, beating Argentina in the play-off for bronze.
Sixth placed Australia won the Plate, Wales lifted the Bowl, France were triumphant in the Shield whilst England won their second IRB Women’s Sevens Challenge Cup.
Australia pip hosts England to Plate
England narrowly missed out on the consolation of a Plate trophy when Dan Bibby missed a conversion and a penalty drop goal in the second half of the Plate final, allowing impressive Australia to hang on to a 14-12 victory and collect 13 Series points.
However, Mat Turner’s try in the final did put him one ahead of teammate Dan Norton as the season’s leading try scorer.
England reached the Plate final after a Turner try and Tom Mitchell conversion clinched a late 17-15 victory against South Africa. Australia reached the final after the Tokyo Sevens winners overturned a 12-5 half time deficit to beat Spain 17-12 in the semi.
Wales beat Scotland in Bowl
Twelve points from Alex Walker hands Wales a 27-5 victory against Scotland in the Bowl, as the reigning RWC Sevens champions collect eight points for the Series.
Two second half tries, one after the final buzzer had sounded, from Dan Fish booked Wales’ place in the Bowl final after a 28-26 victory against Portugal. They met Scotland following Graham Shiel’s side recorded a 31-19 victory against Zimbabwe in the second semi final thanks to two tries from Michael Fedo.
Earlier, 11 points from Alex Walker helped Wales beat USA 28-19 in the second Bowl quarter, entering this competition having lost to Spain and Fiji on day one.
Carl Murray scored twice for Portugal in the day’s opening match against RWC Sevens 2013 hosts Russia. The sides last met in the core team qualifying quarter final in Hong Kong, with Portugal narrowly winning 17-10 on their way to claiming one of the three places for next season’s Series, and recorded a 24-17 victory in London.
In the third match Scotland beat crowd favourites Kenya 21-5 before Dubai Sevens runners-up France suffered a 19-17 defeat to Zimbabwe with Jacques Leitao scoring the winning try for the Cheetahs.
World Cup winner Jason Robinson loves to be entertained and hailed England’s Dan Norton as the man who has lit up this season’s HSBC Sevens World Series.
Norton is the leading global try-getter going into the final leg at the Marriott London Sevens at Twickenham Stadium this weekend. No Englishman – in a list including Ugo Monye and David Strettle – has scored more heavily in a single season.
The 24 year-old from Bristol has touched down 35 times on big stages everywhere from Hong Kong to Las Vegas on a world tour in which the eight tournament titles have been shared by five different teams so far.
Former England wing Robinson – their try scorer in the 2003 World Cup final victory – admits he wants to see ‘speed, good feet and skills’ more than scrums and lineouts these days.
And the likes of England’s Norton and Mat Turner, and New Zealand’s Lomu-like wing Frank Halai, have provided exactly that since the series kicked off on the Gold Coast in Queensland six months ago.
The single snapshot highlight? Norton’s astonishing try in Hong Kong against Australia, starting from behind his own line before he beat three opponents to go the length of the field and snatch victory on the final play, might just be the best of the lot.
“When you’re playing 15s you are aware of sevens because everyone loves playing it but what I’ve seen this season has been amazing,” said Robinson, an HSBC Ambassador.
“I’ve been astonished going to the different legs as to how much interest has been generated. For guys like Norton, who’s just re-signed for England, it’s fantastic. The best players love big stages and the HSBC Sevens World Series gives them that worldwide.
England have called newcomer Jeff Williams and former captain Andy Vilk into their squad for this weekend’s Marriott London Sevens.
Head coach Ben Ryan had needed to make one change for the final leg of the HSBC Sevens World Series after former England U20 wing Mark Odejobi fractured a bone in his foot last weekend.
But half back John Brake is suffering from concussion caused by a blow to the head in the Glasgow final against New Zealand, so both the powerful Vilk and France-based Williams join the group.
England face France (12:42), the USA (16:00) and Samoa (19:28) in tomorrow’s Pool B matches with Fiji or Wales their potential opponents if they reach the quarter finals.
Former Northampton Saints and Sale Sharks centre Vilk, 30, captained England Sevens in 2007-08 before moving to Treviso and has been playing under Neil Back at Rugby Lions this season.
Williams, 23, is a centre with RC Chateaurenard in the Federale 1 division in France this season who previously played for the Hamiltons club and the Sharks Academy in South Africa.
“We’re lucky to be able to call on two quality players who’ve spent a lot of time with the squad,” said England head coach Ben Ryan.
“Andy’s very experienced with more than 30 tournaments under his belt at this level while Jeff’s got a good pedigree, has impressed us in training and by the way he’s fitted into our group so well.
“We feel we’re on an upward curve at the moment and we played some great rugby in Glasgow so we’re eager to finish on a high on what should be a fantastic occasion at Twickenham.”
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