Head coach James Rodwell has named his England Women Sevens squad for the forthcoming HSBC World Sevens Series tournament in Malaga (21-23 January and live on www.World.Rugby).
Drawn in Pool C, England face France, Russia and Brazil at Estadio Ciudad de Málaga.
Abbie Brown and Megan Jones will co-captain the group with Abi Burton, Grace Crompton, Alicia Maude, Isla Norman Bell and Emma Uren also included.
Ellie Boatman and Heather Cowell have also joined the core contracted group and compete in Spain.
Meanwhile, Gloucester-Hartpury duo Tatyana Heard and Kelly Smith, Saracens’ Chantelle Miell and Loughborough Lightning’s Georgina Tasker have all been selected after impressing during training camps.
The group will then head to Seville for the second of the back-to-back Spain tournaments (28-30 January).
Rodwell said: “We are starting a new journey with the England rose on our chest which gives us great pride. To go out and wear an England shirt again at the start of a new programme with England returning in a really big year for sevens including a home Commonwealth Games is exciting.
“We have a number of returning faces from the GB programme and they will have hopefully learned from that experience and will take that into this England programme.
“We also have some very exciting young players coming through who we have the opportunity to develop and bring them into a professional environment. I’m looking forward to seeing them play on the World Series.
“Spain is a new tournament on the series for both the women’s and men’s teams. The excitement of getting back playing after the Christmas break with a new group is one everyone is looking forward to. The energy coming into camp from January has been brilliant, despite some challenges. We’re looking to make England proud back on the series again and can’t wait to get going.”
Co-captain Brown : “We’re all super excited to have the opportunity to put on an England shirt again and wear the rose.
“We’ve got a big year ahead of us, with a home Commonwealth Games plus a lot of new talent coming through, so Spain will be interesting to not only see where the team is at but to showcase where we want to take England Sevens too.”
England Women 7s squad for Malaga
Ellie Boatman
Abbie Brown (C)
Abi Burton
Heather Cowell
Grace Crompton
Tatyana Heard
Megan Jones (C)
Alicia Maude
Chantelle Miell
Isla Norman-Bell
Kelly Smith
Georgina Tasker
Emma Uren
Pool C Schedule
Friday 21 January
France 7s v England 7s – 09.22 local time/08.22 UK time
Russia 7s v England 7s – 14.28 local time/13.28 UK time
Saturday 22 January
Brazil 7s v England 7s – 09.00 local time/ 08.00 UK time
With thanks to England Rugby
