England Women Sevens head coach James Bailey has made four changes to the England Sevens side that will play in the fourth leg of the HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series in Langford, Canada on 12-13 May (streamed live via WorldRugby.org).
Olivia Jones, Chantelle Miell, Katie Mason and Sarah McKenna re-join the squad alongside Kelly Smith who will play the role of non-travelling reserve.
Emily Scarratt, Claire Allan, Natasha Hunt and Amy Wilson Hardy were unavailable for selection due to injuries sustained in recent tournaments while Holly Aitchison continues her rehab schedule.
Megan Jones has been ruled out for the rest of the season after undergoing anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) surgery last week.
“We feel for those players who have missed out on selection due to injury and wish them a quick recovery, however this misfortune opens up a great opportunity for some of our squad members who weren’t able to play in the Commonwealth Games to demonstrate their talent and ability on the world stage,” said James Bailey.
“Since coming together at the beginning of the season we have put a huge emphasis on our performances being based on the effort of the entire squad and I’m looking forward to seeing that in action this weekend in Langford.”
England have been drawn in Pool A and will face New Zealand who are currently ranked second, Fiji and invitational team Brazil on day one of the competition.
Bailey added: “We’ve had some great encounters against Fiji recently and New Zealand are on excellent form off the back of the Gold Coast and Japan so it’s brilliant that we the opportunity to play them again next weekend.
“Despite being the invitational team we know that Brazil have got some strong World Series experience and are an impressive outfit, so we’re looking forward to the challenge that playing them will bring.”
England Women Sevens are currently ranked eighth on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series and have Langford and Paris left to play on this season’s circuit.
England Women Sevens squad for Langford, Canada:
Abbie Brown ©
Heather Fisher
Victoria Fleetwood
Deborah Fleming
Olivia Jones
Katie Mason
Alex Matthews
Sarah McKenna
Chantelle Miell
Emily Scott
Lydia Thompson
Millie Wood
Non-travelling reserve: Kelly Smith
England’s Pool A fixtures (times in BST). All streamed live at WorldRugby.org:
v Fiji: 7:58pm (Saturday 12 May)
v New Zealand: 11:14pm (Saturday 12 May)
v Brazil: 01:44am (Sunday 13 May)
Courtesy of the RFU
