Youngsters in 7s squad

By Jason Harris
August 15 2002

The Men in Black will field a team from their academy squads in the Middlesex Charity 7s as the senior squad continue their pre-season tour of Japan.

No8 Ben Skirving will be the only player named in the 37-man senior squad to be on duty at Twickenham at the weekend. The rest of the players will come from the thriving academy set-up at Bramley Road.

Coach Buck Shelford has made it perfectly clear where his priorities lie as the big names at Sarries continue their Zurich Premiership perparations in the far east, while the youngsters will face a daunting task in opening the competition against last year's champions The Army. The tie kicks off affairs at 11.20am.

With the rest of the Zurich Premiership teams fielding 40 international players between them, the young lads from Saracens will have a tough time of it at HQ.

Still, we wish them all the best in this, the showpiece 7s event of the season.

The squad:

7. Tom Spencer
8. Ben Skirving
9. John McDonough
10. Daniel Legge
11. Matt Fenton
12. Chris Waring
13. Paddy O'Gorman
14. Paul Bailey
15. James Meadows
20. Richard Emmerson
21. Tim Dowling
22. Richard Marshall