Former Cornish Pirates flanker Phil Burgess will captain England Sevens in the opening leg of the HSBC Sevens World Series on the Gold Coast in Australia.
England finished fourth last season and Head Coach Simon Amor says he is looking forward to getting the campaign underway next weekend with a new-look squad which includes Series debutants Charlie Hayter, Alex Davis and Tom Bowen.
He said: “We’re fortunate to have played in both Manchester and Romania over the past couple of weeks and that’s enabled us to take a look at the squad, as well as some younger guys coming through.
“It was a good opportunity for players to stake a claim, and some of them really stood out.
“We have a good balance in the squad: we have strength and pace, and some exciting playmakers pulling the strings so we’re in a good place.
“The challenge of this first leg is that all of the teams come into the season with new players and new styles, so you’re going into the unknown a little, but it also gives us the opportunity to focus solely on ourselves to be as good as we can be.
“The preparation has been done so we get to head out there, get over the jet-lag and then really concentrate on performing well.
“With the Olympics in mind, first of all it’s a huge honour to be carrying the baton for Team GB, but for us as England, it’s very much about how we can continue to improve as a team. We finished fourth last season, and our focus is quite simply on bettering that.”
England Sevens: James Rodwell, Alex Gray, Charlie Hayter, Sam Blanchet, Phil Burgess (Capt.), John Brake, Christian Lewis-Pratt, Dan Bibby, Marcus Watson, Alex Davis, Dan Norton, Tom Bowen.
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