England Sevens tweak squad for Port Elizabeth
England Sevens have made three changes to their squad for this weekend’s HSBC Sevens World Series leg in Port Elizabeth this weekend (13-14 December), with Alex Davis, Sam Stanley and London Scottish No.8 Mark Bright all coming in.
The trio replace injured pair Dan Bibby (dislocated elbow) and Charlie Hayter (hamstring), while James Rodwell will continue to be assessed after taking a knock to his ankle in Dubai.
Bright represented England at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow this year and scored 21 tries in 28 games for Scottish during the 2013/14 season, which saw him shortlisted for the Championship Player of the Year Award and named in the Championship XV that beat Canada last month.
Head Coach Simon Amor said: “We’re incredibly grateful to London Scottish for releasing Mark to us for the third round of the World Sevens Series.
“Unfortunately our centrally contracted group have suffered a number of injuries but we’re delighted to bring in someone of Mark’s proven ability. He was outstanding for us at the Commonwealth Games and we know that he’ll make a massive impact for us for this tournament.
“Alex and Sam were out in Dubai competing for The Royals, our development side, in the elite invitational tournament, so it will be easy for them to integrate themselves into the squad.”
England will face New Zealand, Japan and Samoa in their Pool in South Africa and Amor says that all three games will be extremely tough.
“We know how strong New Zealand and Samoa will be and Japan are also a very capable side,” he said. “It will be very physical, but we’ll prepare well in training this week and look to perform to our full potential and take a step forward from last weekend.”
England Sevens squad for Port Elizabeth
Sam Blanchet
Tom Bowen
John Brake
Mark Bright
Phil Burgess
Alex Davis
Alex Gray
Christian Lewis-Pratt
Tom Mitchell (captain)
Dan Norton
James Rodwell
Sam Stanley
Jeff Williams
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