NEWS EXTRA
ENGLAND Sevens will return to the World Series in both the men’s and women’s competition in Malaga (January 21-23) after Great Britain Sevens competed in the opening two rounds in Dubai.
The squads will be based at Loughborough University with the first camp from January 4.
After leading GB Men’s Sevens and Team GB at Tokyo 2020, Tony Roques takes over as head coach of England Men’s Sevens. James Rodwell is England Women‘s Sevens head coach.
The management team will have a new look when they return, with performance roles integrating across both the men’s and women’s programmes.
Both teams consist of a core contracted group with a number of other players being selected on an invitational basis from clubs and universities throughout the season on a camp-by-camp basis.
Roques said: “I’m super excited to be given the chance to be head coach having previously worked with them as an assistant coach. I am very grateful for the experience with GB Sevens and I’ll take a lot of what I learnt from that into this role.
“It is a very young group. This is a transitional period and we know the World Series will be a big challenge but I’m confident we have the right attitude.”
Rodwell added: “We have a number of Olympians and U20s players who have shown what they can do on the World Series as well as returning players who were part of the England programme previously. We have exciting players coming through.”
Five 2020 Olympians including co-captains Abbie Brown and Megan Jones are in the women’s squad. In the men’s squad, Olympians Alex Davis and Tom Bowen are selected. The squad will be added to in the near future, as further contracts are being finalised at this stage.
England Men’s core group: Jamie Adamson, Jamie Barden, Api Bavadra, Tom Bowen, Max Clementson, Alex Davis, Freddie Roddick
England Women’s core group: Isla Norman Bell, Abbie Brown, Abi Burton, Grace Crompton, Megan Jones, Alicia Maude, Jodie Ounsley, Celia Quansah Emma Uren, Amy Wilson Hardy
