England will field three returning Olympians in the final round of the Rugby Europe Grand Prix Sevens Series this weekend in Malemort, France.
Abbie Brown, Katy Mclean and Amy Wilson Hardy, who captains the squad, return to England Sevens following the Rio Olympics in August.
The side will also feature a number of new names. Lotte Clapp, Lauren Cattell and Katie Mason, who all played in the 2016 Six Nations, join Lucy Nye, Kelly Smith, Millie Wood and Rachael Woosey in making their debuts on the senior sevens circuit. Natasha Brennan, who has been a member of the England Sevens programme since contracts were first awarded in October 2014, completes the squad.
While England players were part of two mixed GB squads for the first leg of the series in Kazan, Russia, England will now play as GB Lions and Wales will field a squad as the GB Royals.
With the GB Lions seeded third in the Series, they have been drawn in Pool C, facing Ireland, Italy and Belgium in the opening rounds.
Head coach Simon Middleton said: “We have some exciting new names in the squad, who have all come through age-grade rugby and will now benefit from an accelerated development in the contracted sevens programme.
“This is our first tournament together as a squad and while we have not had long to train together, we have the benefit of four experienced names in Amy, Abbie, Alice and Natasha. Their experience, on the World Series and most recently for the three in Rio, will benefit those coming into the squad.
“The whole squad has been working hard since coming together and we look forward to providing those new players with tournament experience.”
Malemort is the second of two legs for the Rugby Europe Grand Prix Sevens Series, with the first having taken place in Kazan, Russia, on 11-12 June.
SQUAD
Abbie Brown (Bristol)
Natasha Brennan (n/a)
Lotte Clapp (Saracens)
Lauren Cattell (Saracens)
Deborah Fleming (Saracens)
Katie Mason (Bristol)
Lucy Nye (Lichfield)
Katy Mclean
Kelly Smith (Worcester Valkyries)
Amy Wilson Hardy (Bristol) ©
Millie Wood (Lichfield)
Rachael Woosey (Darlington Mowden Park)
Pool Games (all times in BST with a live stream available via www.rugbyeurope.tv)
Saturday 24 September
v Belgium KO 10.00am
v Italy KO 12.45pm
v Ireland KO 3.52pm
Report courtesy of England Rugby
