England Women’s squad for Atlanta 7s
By RFU Julia Hutton
February 6 2014
England Women’s Sevens Head Coach Simon Middleton has named his 12-woman squad for the second round of the IRB Sevens World Series in Atlanta, USA (February 15/16) and the first of his tenure.
Middleton, who joined the England coaching set-up in January, has named Richmond’s Abigail Chamberlain as captain of a squad who’ll be looking to improve on their fifth place finish in the series opener in Dubai in December. England also welcome back some experienced names to the squad with Bristol’s Danielle Waterman and Worcester’s Heather Fisher returning from injury. Waterman has not played for England since November 2012 whilst Fisher last featured at the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Moscow in June. Richmond’s Claire Allan has been named as vice-captain. Middleton said: “This is a really exciting squad with players of real quality throughout. Some of it is raw talent, players like Emily Scott and Amy Wilson-Hardy for example, and they’ll continue to learn a lot from experiences like this whilst it is also fantastic to welcome back the likes of Danielle and Heather. I think Abi and Claire will also play a significant role as they have a lot to offer this squad in terms of experience and leadership.” England face a tough pool for the second round, being drawn against world champions New Zealand, the Netherlands and Ireland but Middleton is not phased. He added: “Yes of course it is a tough pool but at the same time the standard of the game has risen so much that I think there are no easy pools anymore. Our priority is to look after ourselves, perform the way we want to and if we can do that, then hopefully the results will follow.” England Sevens Claire Allan (VC) (Richmond) Natasha Brennan (Richmond) Abigail Chamberlain (C) (Richmond) Heather Fisher (Worcester) Francesca Matthews (Richmond) Sarah McKenna (Saracens) Leanne Riley (Saracens) Emily Scott (Thurrock) Lydia Thompson (Worcester) Sally Tuson (Saracens) Danielle Waterman (Bristol) Amy Wilson-Hardy (Bristol) England Atlanta Playing Schedule: February 15 7:50pm GMT England v Ireland 10:34pm GMT England v Netherlands 1:18pm GMT New Zealand v England February 16 Knock out stages TBC |
