England recall experienced trio for London Sevens

Chris Cracknell, Mat Turner and Christian Lewis-Pratt return to the England squad for the Marriott London Sevens this weekend where a record breaking crowd of 115,000 is expected across the two days.
The experienced trio, who have over 80 tournament caps between them, replace Sam Stanley, Jack Walsh and Sam Blanchet who all made their debuts in Tokyo.
England sit fourth in the HSBC Sevens World Series behind New Zealand, South Africa and Fiji and will aim to finish strongly as they build on recent tournaments – third in Tokyo, second in Hong Kong and Plate winners in Glasgow.
England will kick off their tournament against Wales (11.34) and Argentina (14.40) before taking on New Zealand (18.06) in pool A.
Head Coach Simon Amor said: “As an England player, playing in front of a sell-out crowd at Twickenham is a huge occasion and having added experience in the squad will certainly be a benefit. A few of the guys have been injured in recent weeks so it’s great to have them back and I’m sure they’ll relish the atmosphere.
“Cracknell brings physicality and size and, in the make-up of our team, that’s important.  In Mat Turner, we’ve got someone who can be one of the best finishers on the series. Christian has come on a great deal in training in recent weeks, in terms of his leadership as well as attack and defence.  I’m really excited to see how he goes.”
“Everyone says that every pool is tough, but it is genuinely true. This draw will be a challenge but we have spoken a lot in recent weeks and months about creating our own identity in terms of defence and attack and trusting our systems. If we get that right, we can be confident going into each game.”
England Sevens: Dan Bibby, Phil Burgess, Chris Cracknell, Alex Gray, Christian Lewis-Pratt, Tom Mitchell (Capt.), Dan Norton, Howard Packman, Tom Powell, James Rodwell, Mat Turner, Marcus Watson.