England Sevens name squad for Wellington
ENGLAND Sevens have named their squad for the Wellington leg of the HSBC Sevens World Series, with two players in line to make their debuts.
Worcester Warriors’ James Stephenson comes into the squad alongside new signing Warwick Lahmert, a former New Zealand sevens player, while Tom Mitchell will captain the side.
England are without Dan Bibby, Sam Blanchet, Sam Stanley, Phil Burgess and Callum Wilson through injury while Dan Norton is absent on compassionate leave.
Head Coach Simon Amor said: “We’ve lost some experienced players ahead of this leg, but it’s great to bring back Marcus Watson and we’re extremely grateful to Worcester Warriors and Dean Ryan for allowing both Richard De Carpentier and James Stephenson to join us.
“It’s also pleasing to bring Warwick in who has World Series experience with New Zealand and has the potential to be a great player for us.”
England will face Papua New Guinea, Canada and hosts New Zealand in Wellington and Amor is expecting a tough test.
He added: “It’s a tricky one – certainly; Papua New Guinea are a little bit of an unknown quality but they have a strong Fijian influence and will be dangerous, Canada will be extremely physical and then New Zealand will of course be a real challenge on their own turf. It’s a challenge, particularly with the inexperienced group that we have heading out there, but we’ve trained well and it’s a challenge we’re looking forward to.”
England Sevens squad
Tom Bowen
John Brake
Richard De Carpentier (Worcester Warriors)
Alex Gray
Charlie Hayter
Warwick Lahmert
Christian Lewis-Pratt
Tom Mitchell (c)
James Rodwell
James Stephenson (Worcester Warriors)
Marcus Watson
Jeff Williams
