England lean on youth for Dubai

England have named a youthful squad to compete at the first ever IRB-sanctioned womens rugby International 7s tournament on December 2nd and 3rd in Dubai.

With the tournament clashing with the final full test game against New Zealand, there is no opportunity for England to name some of its crossover 7s and 15s players.

The tournament in Dubai, which will be integrated into the second round of the mens HSBC Sevens World Series, will see some of the top womens international teams go head-to-head.

England will join the likes of 7sWorld Champions Australia as well as South Africa, the USA, Canada, Brazil, China and Spain.

Sonia Green and Michaela Staniford are Englands most experienced players and will spearhead the campaign, with Staniford being a survivor of Englands 2009 RWC Sevens campaign. Jennifer Brightmore, Sarah McKenna and Isabelle Noel Smith, who all made their England debuts this year, are also named in the squad.

England Head Coach Barry Maddocks said: With several uncapped players in the squad and with an average age of just 23 I am extremely excited about the potential of this team. We have some exciting youngsters with a promising future in Sevens and alongside them we have some experienced players who I and Susie Appleby (Assistant Coach) have been working with for the last three seasons. This tournament will provide them with the opportunity to show how they can perform at this level ahead of the World Cup Sevens in 2013 and also us with the opportunity to see where they are.

There are some seriously strong teams in this tournament with world champions Australia in the mix with the likes of Canada, Spain and the USA who will all have their strongest teams available. For us this will be an extremely important tournament to look at certain players at this level. It will be a tough tournament and certainly a step up for England but one that the team and management staff are looking forward to.

England Squad

Jenny Brightmore (Worcester)Abigail Chamberlain(Richmond)SoniaGreen(Saracens)Sarah Guest(Worcester)Charlotte Keane (Worcester)Sarah McKenna (Wasps)Sophie Nicholas (Richmond)Isabelle Noel-Smith (Bristol)Emily Scott (Thurrock)Michaela Staniford (Wasps)Lydia Thompson (Worcester)Joanne Watmore (Worcester)