England name new faces for Houston
England’s have named their squad of 12 players for round two of the IRB Women’s Sevens World Series (WSWS) next month in Houston, Texas.
Published by Alison Donnelly, January 22nd, 2013
3 minute read
Regular XV skipper Katy McLean and Alex Matthews featured for England in an uncapped tournament in France last season and are included in their first WSWS event, while Marlie Packer is set to pull on the England Sevens shirt for the first time.
The trio are part of a 17-woman training squad that are preparing for the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Moscow in June, training three days a week in the lead-up.
Richmond’s Alice Richardson, also a Scrumqueens.com blogger, will captain England in Houston with Lichfield’s Emily Scarratt named as vice-captain. Richardson and Scarratt are joined in the squad by some seasoned Sevens players including Michaela Staniford, Heather Fisher, Katherine Merchant and Joanne Watmore.
England Women’s Sevens Head Coach Barry Maddocks said: “I am really excited to include Katy, Alex and Marlie in this squad. The three of them are already really good rugby players but they have still got a lot to learn about Sevens rugby. This is a great opportunity for them and I am sure they will do themselves proud. I am certainly really excited to see how they do in Houston.”
England head into round two of the WSWS on the back of a seventh place finish in Dubai though they will travel with higher expectations this time around given the experience of this squad.
They are in arguably the toughest pool as they are set to face top seeds, New Zealand, the Netherlands and Trinidad & Tobago.
Maddocks added: “This is a really tough pool undoubtedly but for us this tournament is about measuring where we are in relation to our opponents as we continue to prepare and build for the RWC Sevens. It is going to be hard but we will focus on each game as it comes and I know the players will put every effort into putting ourselves into the best possible place we can be at this stage of our journey.”
England Sevens
Heather Fisher (Worcester)Sarah Guest (Worcester)Natasha Hunt (Lichfield)Ruth Laybourn (Darlington Mowden Park Sharks)Alexandra Matthews (Richmond)Katy McLean (Darlington Mowden Park Sharks)Kat Merchant (Worcester)Marlie Packer (Bristol)Alice Richardson (C) (Richmond)Emily Scarratt (VC) (Lichfield)Michaela Staniford (Wasps)Jo Watmore (Worcester)