Richardson ready for senior role in Amsterdam

With England opting to rotate their squad and give rest time to a number of players this weekend, Richardson is one of just six in this weekends squad who were also involved in the win in London.

Starting the final at Twickenham and scoring a try, Richardson will be a senior figure in Amsterdam as a young England squad do battle with South Africa, Wales and USA in their pool.

Amsterdam is always a really enjoyable tournament to be part of, the 25-year old Richmond player said.

Although there are all of the social tournaments going on at the same time so youve got to work hard not to be distracted!

Its a great chance for some of the girls with less experience to get a good bulk of game time under their belts and show what they can do. Rotating the squad is part of the bigger picture and the newer faces will look at this as a chance to make the step up and force their way into the squad for the European tournament in Moscow.

She adds that there are plenty of faces to get excited about in Amsterdam this weekend in the England squad.

Were developing a strong pool of players. Someone like Leanne Riley has done very well when given the chance this year and I think she will be one to watch among others. We have a tough pool with South Africa, USA and Wales in there so weve just got to think game by game really and see what happens.

Since lifting the title in front of tens of thousands of fans at Twickenham, most of the winning team were heading back to work just over 24 hours later including Richardson who left England camp on Monday at 10am and was straight back to her day job as a personal trainer till 8.30pm in the evening.

With sides like Netherlands, USA and Canada investing heavily in offering their players the chance to play without the burden of fulltime work, is that a path that would interest her?

You do get back to work with a bit of reality bump after the highs of big tournaments and if the option was there to play part or full time and so on I am sure lots of players would consider it. I think its fair to say that more time together is definitely something that would help. As the tournaments get tougher then recovery becomes more important and at the moment that can be hard when you are straight back to work the day after a tournament."

Englands final last week was against the host nation this weekend and though it was a comfortable win in the end, Richardson believes the Dutch will get stronger and stronger.

They had a very strong tournament but the final was a game where things clicked for us and it was a good win. Netherlands will be very confident playing at home this weekend though. They have a strong running game and they play to their strengths. They are a professional side and so they are always going to be one of the fittest and they are improving all the time."

Richardson, who has 32 senior England caps to her name, adds, that ahead of the mooted World Sevens Series next season, the standard across the board in international Sevens has already risen hugely.

Theres no question that the teams competing regularly are getting better all the time and you could see that in London. We were ahead by just two points at half time when we played Kazakhstan who ended up finishing 11th, but that just shows that the gap between the sides who are more established and the sides who are emerging and developing is closing.

England will be odds on to come through the European Qualifiers in Moscow this summer and make the cut for the 2013 Sevens World Cup. Richardson was involved when England played at the last World Cup in 2009, and though she wont jump the gun and predict that she or England will be there again next year, theres no doubt theres a sense of unfinished business at that tournament for her side.

Obviously our last World Cup campaign was a disappointment in getting knocked out in the Quarters, but thats Sevens and Australia then went on to win it. Every player wants to play at World Cups but we havent even qualified yet. The Europeans in Moscow is our main focus and having it in the same country as the World Cup itself will be a pretty good preparation for everyone who gets through.

By Ali Donnelly

You can watch international sides compete at Amsterdam Sevens on a livestream this weekendhereand you can view the poolshere