England Women target fourth place in Sevens World Series
England Women Sevens skipper Abigail Chamberlain says England are targeting a fourth place finish in the World Series when the final round kicks off this week in Amsterdam (May 16-17).
After four rounds, which has seen England win Plate titles in Dubai and China, England currently share fourth place with fierce rivals Russia and Chamberlain is eager her side get the upper hand over their Russian counterparts.
“Ultimately we want to cement our fourth place in the World Series standings so that means finishing above Russia,” said the Richmond player. “Finishing fourth is probably where we expected to be this season and if we can do that and finish behind three exceptional teams in New Zealand, Australia and Canada, that is a good result for us.”
To do that, England will need to overcome a difficult pool which includes hosts the Netherlands, 2016 Olympic hosts Brazil and last year’s Rugby World Cup finalists Canada.
“This is the last leg of the series and we want to go out there with a bang,” added Chamberlain “This is our last chance to do that so we’ve got nothing to lose. That said, it isn’t going to be easy. Netherlands and Brazil will present us with a real challenge whilst we fell short against Canada in the China quarter-final last month when we didn’t play to our potential. We will definitely be looking to turn that around this time but they are a very good team and we’ll have to be at our best to beat them.”
England Women’s Sevens Head Coach Simon Middleton has made two changes to the team that were crowned Plate champions in China recalling Richmond’s Claire Allan and Worcester wing Lydia Thompson. Allan and Thompson replace the injured Rachael Burford and Megan Ellery.
England Squad
Claire Allan (Richmond) VC
Natasha Brennan (Richmond)
Abigail Chamberlain (Richmond) C
Heather Fisher (Worcester)
Francesca Matthews (Richmond)
Sarah McKenna (Saracens)
Marlie Packer (Wasps)
Emily Scott (Thurrock)
Michaela Staniford (Wasps)
Lydia Thompson (Worcester)
Danielle Waterman (Bristol)
Amy Wilson-Hardy (Bristol)
England Playing Schedule, IRB WSWS,
Friday, May 16
England v Netherlands, KO 1:10pm BST
England v Brazil, KO 3:54pm BST
Canada v England, KO 6:16pm BST
Saturday, May 17
Knock-out stages
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