England Sevens Fixtures - 5-6April 2008 -DownUnder

Tom Tombleson (Newbury Blues) has been called up to the England Sevens squad ahead of this weekend’s IRB Adelaide Sevens on the 5 & 6 April.



Tom will replace Jonathan Fisher (London Irish) who has been called up to the bench for London Irish for this Saturday’s Heineken Cup quarter final against Perpignan.



This will be Tombleson’s second appearance for England as he was called out as a replacement for the IRB USA Sevens in February.



Said Coach Ben Ryan, “Tom has had to quickly acclimatise, he had a brief run out against New Zealand in a practice match this morning and though bleary eyed, he's ready to go forward to push his claims for future selections and help us through the group into the Cup this weekend.”



England Sevens squad for IRB World Sevens Series

Adelaide:

Kevin Barrett (Exeter)

John Brake (Northampton Saints)

Noah Cato (Saracens)

James Collins (Worcester Warriors)

Matthew Cox (Worcester Warriors)

Anthony Elliott (Bristol Rugby)

Ben Gollings (Sunnybank)

Simon Hunt (Ebbw Vale)

Chris Mayor (Sale Sharks)

Tom Tombleson (Newbury Blues)

Andy Vilk (Sale Sharks, captain)

Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers)



Adelaide Sevens Pool fixtures:



April 5 – Fiji v England, KO 11:09am local time (GMT+9.5)

April 5 – England v Kenya, KO 2:37pm local time (GMT+9.5)

April 5 – England v France, KO 5:21pm local time (GMT+9.5)

That looks a tough group.

Results now being updated


looking grim for England 7s - doomed, we are doomed Capt Mannering



Latest results



17 05-04-2008 17:21 England 12 - 19 France AUS Pool D
16 05-04-2008 16:49 South Africa 21 - 17 Canada AUS Pool C
15 05-04-2008 16:27 Australia 31 - 19 USA AUS Pool C
14 05-04-2008 16:05 Tonga 19 - 17 Wales AUS Pool B
13 05-04-2008 15:43 Samoa 31 - 26 Japan AUS Pool B
12 05-04-2008 15:21 Scotland 17 - 19 Argentina AUS Pool A
11 05-04-2008 14:59 New Zealand 33 - 7 Cook Islands AUS Pool A
10 05-04-2008 14:37 Kenya 17 - 10 England AUS Pool D
9 05-04-2008 14:15 Fiji 33 - 12 France AUS Pool D
8 05-04-2008 13:43 Australia 21 - 14 Canada AUS Pool C
7 05-04-2008 13:21 South Africa 43 - 0 USA AUS Pool C
6 05-04-2008 12:59 Tonga 53 - 0 Japan AUS Pool B
5 05-04-2008 12:37 Samoa 28 - 17 Wales AUS Pool B
4 05-04-2008 12:15 Scotland 22 - 17 Cook Islands AUS Pool A
3 05-04-2008 11:53 New Zealand 21 - 14 Argentina AUS Pool A
2 05-04-2008 11:31 France 12 - 21 Kenya AUS Pool D
1 05-04-2008 11:09 Fiji 31 - 12 England AUS Pool D



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008:04:05:08:23:37 by Kath..

What is the point of sending squads like this on the 7s circuit? It must be an expensive exercise and English rugby clearly doesn't take it seriously. I can see a case for saying it is part of the "development pathway" for talented young players. However, promising youngsters need to be put into squads that contain experienced, quality players. This isn't happening and the balance is all wrong. How many Newbury Blues players or ex-players has Ben Ryan picked in his squads? I think it is at least three. Is Newbury a hot bed of 7s excellence or is it just that Ryan used to coach there?

England have lost every game in Australia not one win - hapless and hopeless

Oh dear.

Maybe the RFU could take a review.

A couple of weeks back, there was a quote (I think from one of the players) along the lines that things were starting to come together but that a number of the squad had not played sevens before.

I did wonder if there was perhaps something amiss in the selection process.

I was there and England were embarrassing...and in front of the Aussies and a lot of expats it was hard to take. SA were well worth their win and the skills of the pacific islanders was very impressive to watch.