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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2010:12:04:17:57:41 by Kath..

looking forward to the 7s now - come on lads

Steve DXB: Will you be attending the 7s this year? If so could you send us a couple of pics please Ta muchas

Ben Ryan's HSBC Sevens World Series preview
Saturday November 27, 2010
Issued by Simon Mills


England have touched down in Dubai in confident mood at the start of a whirlwind tour of the globe in this season’s HSBC Sevens World Series.

The Emirates Airline Dubai Sevens that takes place on December 3-4 is the first stop on a six month circuit that takes in eight tournaments on five different continents.

Head coach Ben Ryan and his team will clock up 80,000 miles in the air and cover 600km on their own feet in the eight training weeks and 48 games. To keep in shape they'll each enjoy 120 ice baths to make sure they can recover in time for the next challenge.

They visit Dubai, George, Wellington, Las Vegas, Adelaide, Hong Kong and London before the series concludes at Edinburgh next May.

The prize at the end of the journey is the HSBC Sevens World Series title that England have never won. But consistency in selection and a core of full-time experts in the abbreviated form of the game, led by sevens legend Ben Gollings, are the keys to improving on last season’s fifth place finish.

As well as Gollings – who has a world record 2,374 series points under his belt – Ryan can call on the all-round skills of Fijian-born forward Isoa Damudamu and the pace and footwork of Dan Caprice and Dan Norton to light up the pitch.

Only two of his 12-man squad are making their Dubai debuts: forward Tom Powell and 20-year-old utility back Ollie Lindsay-Hague from Harlequins.

And making a flying start in Dubai then at the Emirates Airline South Africa Sevens in George (December 10-11) is vital for head coach Ben Ryan.

"It’s the start of the series and everyone goes in there with high spirits and the promise that anything can happen," said Ryan. "Anyone who starts well in Dubai is generally in the mix for the title. That was backed up last season with Samoa and New Zealand, who finished No.1 and No.2 in the series.

"For England, this first tournament is like Hong Kong and like Twickenham. The support in Dubai is as vocal as anywhere else in the world and we love that. It’s great to have 50,000 people there and it feels like they’re all behind England.

"Our record is two semis and final in the last three years and for me that’s disappointing. There’s only one out of the 12 who are going to Dubai this year who haven’t been there before in Tom Powell so we’ve got consistency there now and that’s one of the key ingredients.”

England have one tournament behind them already after appearing in the Commonwealth Games in India in October.

At Delhi they finished fourth – beaten in the bronze medal match by South Africa – but while other sides will have to rebuild, Ryan is keeping together a squad that registered important victories over sevens world champions Samoa and an Australia side stuffed with Test players.

“Our preparation is probably better than we have had for a long time,” added Ryan.

“We’ve got eight full-time contracted players now who we can see on a weekly basis and we had a good run up with Delhi. Although the results didn’t go the way we wanted them to it means we’ve had a lot of contact time in the last 3-4 months. We’re in a good place.

“We learned that these lads are on an accelerated curve and we got some real pluses from the way we played against Australia and Samoa but some negatives about not getting on the podium at the business end of things.

“We learned a lot about how to play against the teams and about the endgame in these tournaments. Next time these young players are in those situations they should be making the right calls.”

England take on Fiji, France and Portugal in Pool D on the opening day with the pool winners likely to face Australia or South Africa in the quarter finals.




HSBC Sevens World Series 2010-11 dates

December 3-4: Emirates Airline Dubai Sevens
December 10-11: Emirates Airline South Africa Sevens, George
February 4-5: NZI Sevens, Wellington
February 12-13: USA Sevens, Las Vegas
March 25-27: Cathay Pacific Credit Suisse Hong Kong Sevens
April 2-3: International Rugby Sevens, Adelaide
May 21-22: Emirates Airline London Sevens



England squad

Greg Barden (Royal Navy), John Brake (England Sevens), Dan Caprice (England Sevens), Chris Cracknell (England Sevens), Isoa Damudamu (British Army), Ben Gollings (England Sevens), Simon Hunt (Birmingham & Solihull), Ollie Lindsay-Hague (Harlequins), Dan Norton (Bristol Rugby), Tom Powell (England Sevens), James Rodwell (England Sevens), Mathew Turner (England Sevens).

England Sevens: Caprice strikes twice in opening win against France
Friday December 3, 2010
Issued by Simon Mills

Dan Caprice’s tries eased England’s nerves as they opened the Emirates Airline Dubai Sevens with a 24-12 win over France this morning.

The former Saracens and Blackheath wing touched down twice with scores from Isoa Damudamu and Simon Hunt making sure of victory in the opening Pool D game.

England face Portugal and Fiji later today with the top two in the group going into tomorrow’s quarter finals.

“You could pull seven Frenchman off the streets of Paris in the middle of the night – they’d still give us a good game,” said England’s head coach Ben Ryan.

“They always seem to perform well against us and we looked a bit nervous and took a while to get going this morning.”

Maxime Eberland’s early try was cancelled out by Caprice’s first, made by John Brake and Damudamu’s surge down the right.

France edged in front again when Terry Bouhraoua struck from long range but three England tries in the last five minutes finished things off.

Caprice streaked in down the right, Damudamu blasted his way over after Jean Baptiste Mazoue was sin-binned and Hunt added the fourth try with a fend and step through two flat-footed defenders.

Ben Gollings added two conversions, taking his world record points tally to 2,378.

England Sevens: Shock sets up must-win pool game with Fiji
Friday December 3, 2010
Issued by Simon Mills

England have to beat Fiji in their final pool match to stand a chance of reaching the quarter finals after suffering a shock at the hands of Portugal on the opening day of the Emirates Airline Dubai Sevens.



After stuttering past France 24-12 they suffered a first defeat in 13 meetings with Portugal to go down 14-12.



Despite missing try-scoring chances, England should still have gone through after tries from Mathew Turner and James Rodwell and a conversion from Ben Gollings.



But they put the ball out on the full from the restart and Frederico Oliveira crossed for a second try of the game with Pedro Leal’s conversion clinching victory.



Any win over Fiji should be enough to send England through to the quarter finals on points difference – the likely opponents are Australia or South Africa – even if Portugal beat France, but head coach Ben Ryan acknowledged England had lots of work to do.



“We dug ourselves into an almighty hole,” said Ryan. “We never got any flow into the game and killed a number of opportunities to win it. Forty seconds to go we score a try to go ahead, then we kick the ball out on the full. That’s a cardinal sin.”



Earlier Dan Caprice’s tries eased England’s nerves as they opened their campaign with a patchy display against France.



The former Saracens and Blackheath wing touched down twice with scores from Isoa Damudamu and Simon Hunt making sure of victory in the opening Pool D game. Gollings kicked two conversions.

Friday December 3, 2010
Issued by Simon Mills

England struck with the last play of the game to beat Fiji 26-21 and pull a quarter final place out of the fire at the Emirates Airline Dubai Sevens.

A shock Pool D defeat against Portugal meant they had to beat the Islanders to avoid finishing third in their group and going into tomorrow’s Bowl competition.

But with the scores level against Fiji they won the ball back after the hooter had sounded and patiently crafted an opening for Birmingham Solihull wing Simon Hunt to strike in the corner.

“We were devastated after the Portugal game,” said Hunt. “We’d let ourselves down and everyone else down and we just wanted to do this and put it right.

“We haven’t won anything yet and it’s all about tomorrow. At least we’ve given ourselves a chance.”

Tries from Dan Caprice, Ben Gollings and James Rodwell put England 21-14 up only for Sitiveni Waqa’s second try of the night to level the scores.

England’s last chance appeared to have gone when Bristol wing Dan Norton was denied a try for a foot in touch within five metres of the line.

But Fiji were penalised at the lineout that followed and Hunt raised his arms skywards after sliding over in the right-hand corner.

Earlier, England stuttered past France 24-12 before suffering a first defeat to Portugal in 13 meetings when they went down 14-12.

Despite missing scoring chances, England should still have gone through after tries from Mathew Turner and Rodwell and a conversion from Gollings.

But they put the ball out on the full from a restart to concede possession and Frederico Oliveira crossed for a second try of the game with Pedro Leal’s conversion clinching victory.

Earlier Caprice’s two tries eased early nerves as England opened their HSBC Sevens World Series campaign with a patchy display against France.

The former Saracens and Blackheath wing touched down twice with scores from Isoa Damudamu and Hunt making sure of victory in the opening Pool D game. Gollings kicked two conversions.

“We dug ourselves into an almighty hole,” said Ryan. “We never got any flow into the game and killed a number of opportunities to win it. Forty seconds to go we score a try to go ahead, then we kick the ball out on the full and that’s a cardinal sin.”

England Sevens: Caprice seals spot in semis with winner against Australia
Saturday December 4, 2010
Issued by Simon Mills

England staged another brilliant comeback to beat Australia 24-21 and reach the semi finals of the Emirates Airline Dubai Sevens.

They needed to claim the restart and score from the final play, with James Rodwell’s catch and drive opening up the space for Dan Caprice to scorch away from the defensive cover on a 50 metre run to the line.

The win sets up a semi final desert date with New Zealand in front of 50,000 fans later today (14.57 GMT) and is a remarkable revival for a side that was heading out of the competition after yesterday's Pool D defeat against Portugal.

It took a similar rescue act against Fiji – Simon Hunt scoring at the death in a 26-21 victory – to keep their campaign alive last night and they now get a chance to take some revenge for the 33-12 Commonwealth Games semi final defeat against New Zealand in Delhi eight weeks ago.

England had built up a healthy lead early on with Ollie Lindsay-Hague and Ben Gollings scoring tries inside the first three minutes.

Two John Grant scores either side of half-time edged Australia in front before Bristol wing Dan Norton’s flurry of footwork put Gollings in for his second try and a 19-14 lead.

Bernard Foley – missed by Caprice – got away down the flank to level the scores and Hamish Angus’s conversion appeared to have won the Ashes battle until Rodwell recaptured possession and Caprice finished from long range.

England Sevens: Ollie strikes twice to beat New Zealand and book place in Dubai final
Saturday December 4, 2010
Issued by Simon Mills

England stunned New Zealand 19-14 to reach the final of the Emirates Airline Dubai Sevens on another day of drama in the desert.

Harlequins scrum half Ollie Lindsay-Hague’s jinked his way over for two tries after a length of the field effort made by Bristol’s Dan Norton and finished by skipper Ben Gollings, who added two conversions.

The victory also eased some of the hurt from the 33-12 defeat England suffered at the semi final stage of the Commonwealth Games sevens in Delhi eight weeks ago.

England are assured of 20 series points for reaching the final and will claim 24 points and a first Dubai title in five years if they can overcome Samoa later (16.50 GMT).

They trailed early on to a Lote Rakabula try but struck back when Norton got away down the left and Gollings sprinted up and took the inside ball before touching down in front of a West Stand packed with expat supporters.

A tight game was controlled by England’s space-denying defenders and Lindsay-Hague struck twice to open up a 12-point lead, finishing off one patient attack and then touching down after the Kiwis conceded a series of penalties.

Tim Mikkelson’s kick and chase got them back in it but New Zealand still had chances after the hooter until England forced a final turnover to end the game.

Earlier they had staged a brilliant comeback to beat Australia 24-21, needing to claim the restart and score from the final play, with James Rodwell’s catch and drive opening up the space for Dan Caprice to scorch away from the defensive cover on a 50 metre run to the line.

England had built up a healthy lead early on with Lindsay-Hague and Gollings scoring tries inside the first three minutes.

Two John Grant scores either side of half-time edged Australia in front before Bristol wing Norton’s flurry of footwork put Gollings in for his second try and a 19-14 lead.

Bernard Foley – missed by Caprice – got away down the flank to level the scores and Hamish Angus’s conversion appeared to have won the Ashes battle until Rodwell recaptured possession and Caprice finished from long range.

WELL DONE ENGLAND 7s FANTASTIC PERFORMANCE