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Odejobi set for England Sevens debut in Las Vegas
Thursday February 10, 2011
Issued by Simon Mills



Mark Odejobi in training with England Sevens

Former England Under 20 wing Mark Odejobi is set to make his England Sevens debut in Las Vegas this weekend.

The 23-year-old from London has been called up for the USA Sevens to replace Isoa Damudamu, who returned home after last weekend's NZI Sevens in Wellington for treatment to a shoulder injury.

Odejobi joins an England side riding high at the top of the HSBC Sevens World Series after one tournament win and two runners-up places in the first three stages of the eight event series.

"Mark's played in a Junior World Championship final on the wing, played for England's age group teams and has trained with us for the last year," said head coach Ben Ryan.

"It's a great opportunity for him to establish himself and he's a powerful player."

Odejobi, who has played for Esher this season in the RFU Championship, joined the side earlier this week for a key stage in the series and a unique tournament.

England triumphed in the Emirates Airline Dubai Sevens but were beaten in George and Wellington by New Zealand, going down 29-14 in last weekend's final, something Ryan's side want to make amends for in Nevada in front of a live NBC TV audience.

On Saturday, they face Guyana (5.24pm), France (9.40pm) and Argentina (12.51am Sunday) in Pool A on the opening day with Kenya the likely quarter final opponents (5am Sunday) if they top the group.

"Everything's different in Vegas," said Ryan. "We play with a different ball on a narrow pitch and with four games [rather than three] on day one but we knew about all that in advance and it's important that we maintain the consistency we've shown so far this season.

"New Zealand have come back at us over the last two legs and have had the upper hand so now we want to rewind and get back to where we were in Dubai."

England do have the advantage of being led by points machine Ben Gollings, who is on the threshold of another staggering sevens landmark in Vegas.

The captain has a world record 2,495 series points - including 210 tries - banked since his series debut in 1999 and should go through the 2,500 barrier on the opening day.

A measure of achievement is how far ahead of the opposition Gollings now is. In second place is the Fijian legend Waisale Serevi, nearly 1,200 points behind.

England Sevens
Greg Barden (Royal Navy)
John Brake (England Sevens)
Dan Caprice (England Sevens)
Chris Cracknell (England Sevens)
Ben Gollings (England Sevens)
Simon Hunt (Birmingham & Solihull)
Nick Royle (England Sevens)
Dan Norton (Bristol Rugby)
Mark Odejobi (Unattached)
Tom Powell (England Sevens)
James Rodwell (England Sevens)
Mathew Turner (England Sevens)

1st Match - England 49-0 Guyana
2nd Match - England 33-14 France

Get in...........

England Sevens book quarter final place in Las Vegas
Saturday February 12, 2011
Issued by Simon Mills

England booked a place in the quarter finals of the USA Sevens with a 33-14 win against Pool A rivals France in Las Vegas.

They added five more tries to the seven scored in an opening 49-0 victory against Guyana and face Argentina later in a final group match that will decide who they face in the knock-out stages.

Dan Caprice, Nick Royle and Mathew Turner all touched down in the first half for England with captain Ben Gollings adding three conversions, France replying through Steve Barry.

Turner struck again after the break and Tom Powell scored his fifth of the day before Barry's consolation score.

Earlier, Powell had touched down four times against minnows Guyana with Gollings, Turner and Simon Hunt also scoring.

Simon Hunt in action for England at the USA Sevens, round four of the HSBC Sevens World Series. Photo: IRB/Martin Seras Lima



Video Highlights Day one

HSBC Sevens World Series joint leaders England and New Zealand have reached the Cup semi finals of the USA Sevens along with Fiji and South Africa in front of a 25,000-strong crowd in Las Vegas.

The World Series leaders remain on course to play each other in what would be a third successive Cup final as Ben Ryan's side face South Africa and Gordon Tietjens' team meet Fiji.

In a change to the usual competition format, the Cup quarter finals were staged late on day one to tie in with the first live broadcasting of the World Series on network television across the States, on NBC.

England became the first team through to the Cup semi finals after a 28-14 victory over Kenya. Humphrey Kayange had given Kenya a 7-0 lead in their first Cup quarter final since the 2010 Hong Kong Sevens but two tries from both James Rodwell and Mat Turner secured England's place in their fourth successive Cup semi final.

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England Sevens hang on to top spot
Monday February 14, 2011
Issued by Simon Mills

England still top the HSBC Sevens World Series standings despite being knocked out in the semi finals in Las Vegas today.

England went down 17-10 to South Africa at the USA Sevens but title rivals New Zealand bowed out at the same stage against Fiji and head coach Ben Ryan’s side lead the series at the half-way mark by virtue of having reached more finals than the Kiwis.

Bristol Rugby wing Dan Norton and former Northampton Saints and Cambridge forward Tom Powell scored first half tries as England built up a 10-0 lead but Cecil Afrika and Kyle Brown struck early in the second half. Afrika converted both and added a late penalty to see the Blitz Bokke home.

South Africa went on to win the tournament, beating Fiji 24-14 in the cup final.

On the tournament’s first day England beat Uganda 49-10, France 33-14 and Argentina 17-14 to take charge of Pool A, then won their quarter final against Kenya with two tries apiece from James Rodwell and Mathew Turner plus four conversions from captain Ben Gollings.

Turner and Powell finished as top try scorers with six apiece while Gollings took his world record points tally past the 2,500 mark against Uganda and now has 2,524 under his belt – over 1,200 more than his nearest challenger, the great Fijian Waisale Serevi.

HSBC Sevens World Series standings
(top five):
1 England 80,
2 New Zealand 80,
3 Fiji 64,
4 Samoa 64,
5 South Africa 56



Watch England Sevens in action on May 21 and 22 at Twickenham Stadium in the Emirates Airline London Sevens, the penultimate leg of the HSBC Sevens World Series. Tickets are available from £15 via rfu.com/londonsevens