What do you think? You can have your say by posting below.
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2010:05:23:18:00:23 by Kath..

If you can't get to Twickenham for the London Sevens or Murrayfield for the Edinburgh Sevens. Take a look at UR7s live text

Varndell returns to England Sevens action



Tom Varndell (London Wasps) and Ollie Phillips (Stade Francais) will return to England Sevens action next weekend at the Emirates Airline London Sevens (May 22 & 23).

The pair boost an already experienced line-up which includes: Kevin Barrett (Saracens), Ben Gollings (Gold Coast, Australia) and Moseley's James Rodwell and marks a first outing for both players this season.

England international (4 caps) and Saxons speedster Varndell, returns to the sevens fold after helping them to reach the 2009 Rugby World Cup quarter final in Dubai and adding to England's tally in Hong Kong and Adelaide.

Whilst Phillips, who won the 2009 IRB Sevens Player of the Year award, led England to two tournament victories last season in Wellington and London when they finished third overall, their highest ranking since 2006.

Ben Ryan's squad is also bolstered by England Saxons scrum half Micky Young, who scored the winning try for England in last year's London final, and his Newcastle team mate Rob Vickerman.

Ryan said, "This is a great squad full of pace and X factor and the training has been fantastic this week.

"It's very exciting to have such a good group and I know all the lads are really excited about the London weekend. Personally, it's been very hard selecting the squad and it's going to be even harder naming a starting side. There are going to be some fantastic sides out there next weekend and with a bit of luck we might be able to compete with them."

England are currently four points behind fourth placed Australia in the Series and will face them at 7.28pm on day one.

With just two legs in this year's Series remaining, the home side need to pick up full points if they are to overtake Australia and close the 20-point gap between them and third place Fiji.

The action kicks off on Saturday at 10.30am with leaders Samoa taking on the improving USA. Other highlights include Fiji v South Africa (6.44pm) and second place New Zealand v Kenya at 7.06pm.


England Sevens squad for London and Edinburgh

Greg Barden (Royal Navy)
Kevin Barrett (Saracens)
John Brake (Northampton Saints)
Chris Brightwell (Bedford)
Ben Gollings (capt, Gold Coast, Australia)
Simon Hunt (Birmingham and Solihull)
Oliver Lindsay-Hague (Harlequins)
Ollie Phillips (Stade Francais)
Tom Powell (Unattached)
James Rodwell (Moseley)
Mat Turner (Bristol Rugby)
Tom Varndell (London Wasps)**
Rob Vickerman (Newcastle Falcons)
Christian Wade (London Wasps)*
Micky Young (Newcastle Falcons)**

*Christian Wade will be replaced by Nick Royle for Edinburgh
**Denotes England Saxons player

Ben Ryan has named his England Sevens squad for this weekend's superhero themed Emirates Airline London Sevens (May 22 & 23).

Micky Young (Newcastle Falcons) is back at Twickenham as he returns to the scene of his extra-time try, which led to England taking the 2009 cup title from New Zealand.

Young joins an experienced squad which also includes last year's IRB Player of the Year and winning captain Ollie Phillips (Stade Francaise), Tom Varndell (London Wasps) and the IRB 7s All Time Highest Points Scorer Ben Gollings (Gold Coast, Australia).

Last year Ryan's team lifted the trophy and delighted the record crowd, beating the All Blacks 31-26. This year over 66,000 tickets have already been sold, overtaking last year's attendance and on Sunday the Twickenham crowd will attempt a Guinness World Record for the 'Largest Gathering of Superheroes' sponsored by Broil King.

England are currently four points behind fourth place Australia in the IRB Sevens World Series.

Having lost out to the Wallabies 17-12 in Adelaide in March, a week later England turned the tables with a 26-19 victory in the Hong Kong quarter final and will be banking on home advantage when the two teams meet in the last pool match of day one.

With just two legs in this year's Series remaining, the home side need to pick up full points if they are to overtake Australia and close the 20-point gap between them and third place Fiji.

The action kicks off on Saturday at 10.30am with leaders Samoa taking on the improving USA. Other highlights include Fiji v South Africa (6.44pm) and second place New Zealand v Kenya at 7.06pm, before England take on Australia at 7.28pm.

With valuable points up for grabs before the winner of the Series is crowned in Murrayfield a week later, all 16 teams will be out to add to their tally.

Ryan said, "We have a strong side, we have some very exciting players and we're going to do everything we can to defend London.

"In London it's a bit more personal, we only get one home game a year and for the next however many years I want to make sure this is a priority tournament and we win it every time."

ENGLAND SEVENS captain Ben Gollings has promised that his team will do everything in their power to defend their title at this weekend's Emirates Airline London Sevens.

The world's leading sevens' points scorer told today's RFU Podcast, "There's a lot of hype around this event, we're expecting an incredible crowd and hopefully the players can do the business on the field."

With a Guinness World Record attempt for the largest ever gathering of superheroes taking place on Sunday (May 23), Gollings added, "That's what great about sevens, there's as much going on off the field as there is on it. For our part we'll be coming out all guns blazing in an attempt to defend our title.

"Last year was an awesome event and would be great to replicate that this year."

Also on this week's podcast:

• Emirates Airline London Sevens - England and London Wasps' speedster Christian Wade on the banter within the squad and the mouth-watering prospect of playing in front of a home crowd.

• British & Irish Cup final - Victorious Cornish Pirates' backs coach Harvey Biljon pays tribute to his players for 'delivering something special' while opposition team manager, Mick Galwey (Munster) concedes that it was a step too far for his young squad.

• RFU Championship final - Bristol boss Paul Hull believes his men can make home advantage count in next week's second leg to make up the three point deficit and fly half Adrian Jarvis says the team will be concentrating on playing to their game plan.

• RFU Championship final - Exeter Chiefs' head coach Rob Baxter is determined to continue their attacking approach despite the high stakes.

• Heineken and Amlin Cup finals - Find out who Amlin Ambassador Lawrence Dallaglio is backing to win this weekend's European cup finals.

• Guinness Premiership Awards - Landrover Discovery of the Season Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers) and Guinness Premiership Player of the Season Chris Ashton (Northampton Saints) share their excitement after fairytale seasons.

• Women's Rugby World Cup Feature - 60 Seconds With..... England captain Catherine Spencer shares her first rugby moments, match day habits and favourite and least favourite room mates.

For the full interviews, check out today's RFU Podcast. Here you can listen to the weekly podcast or subscribe to itunes and have it delivered straight to your inbox each week.

The RFU podcast takes you inside English rugby from the grassroots to the elite

[www.rfu.com]

The England Sevens management has announced that Ollie Phillips is returning to his club Stade Francais from the England squad preparing for the Emirates Airline London Sevens this weekend.

Ollie Phillips has been replaced by Oliver Lindsay-Hague of Harlequins.

Elite Rugby Director Rob Andrew said "Ollie Phillips has been recalled by his club Stade Francais. We are very disappointed with this decision as Ollie has been part of the England Sevens squad for the last couple of years and was named World Sevens player of the year last season. We have worked closely with Stade this season with regard to Ollie's sevens commitments and have not selected Ollie during the season at Stade's request. Ollie is very disappointed to miss our home tournament which is fast becoming one of the biggest events in the IRB Sevens Series. We will be asking the IRB to further consider the release of players for the IRB Series under Regulation 9."