James Bailey has named his 12-player squad for the opening round of the 2018 Rugby Europe Women’s Sevens Grand Prix Series in Marcoussis, France on 29-30 June.
The tournament, which will be live streamed on RugbyEurope.tv, is the first of two competitions that make up the European series, culminating in Kazan, Russia in September.
Natasha Hunt will captain the side and will play her first tournament since the World Series leg in Kitakyushu, Japan as she makes her return from injury.
Bailey’s England side will be made up of a mix of youth and experienced players as he looks to use Marcoussis as a development opportunity for the younger talent within the squad.
“This competition provides us with a great opportunity to develop our younger group of players as we continue to build depth within our squad,” said England Women Sevens head coach James Bailey.
“The standard of the European competition is incredibly high so this weekend will be a really big challenge but will play an important role as we look ahead to next season’s World Series.”
Marcoussis is the last tournament in the England Women Sevens’ schedule before the Rugby World Cup Sevens in San Francisco in July, with Bailey adding: “As well as the development piece, Marcoussis also allows us to give some of our more experienced players who have recently returned from injury some meaningful game time as we continue with our preparations for the World Cup next month.”
England have been drawn in Pool C and will face Italy, Portugal and France on day one of the tournament.
England Women Sevens squad for Marcoussis:
Lizzie Adam
Holly Aitchison
Shauna Bennett
Jess Breach
Natasha Hunt ©
Olivia Jones
Katie Mason
Sarah McKenna
Celia Quansah
Sophie Tandy
Amy Wilson Hardy
Millie Wood
Schedule Pool C, Friday 29 June (all times in BST and games available via RugbyEurope.tv)
v Italy, 12.28pm
v Portugal, 3.13pm
v France, 6.20pm
Courtesy of the RFU
