England Women Sevens head coach James Bailey has named a 13-player squad that will travel to Nice for an invitational tournament on 16-17 March.
England will compete alongside France, Russia, Canada, Australia, Spain, Japan and Ireland in a round robin format hosted across two days.
This tournament forms part of the squad’s preparation for the next leg of the HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series taking place in Kitakyishu, Japan on 20-21 April.
“The Sydney leg of the World Series at the beginning of February was the last time that this group played competitive rugby so the opportunity to compete in this invitational tournament will be invaluable as we prepare for Japan next month,” said Bailey.
He added: “The last five weeks have provided the squad with some proper recovery time after two back-to-back tournaments, as well as giving us the chance to put some consistent training in.
“Our focus has been on our own game and what we need to do to put ourselves in the best position to win games against some tough opposition. We’re really looking forward to seeing what we’ve been working on put into practice over the weekend.”
Claire Allan, Ellie Kildunne and Heather Fisher, who has been training with the squad, were all unavailable for selection due to injury.
It was announced this week that the HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series will be increased to eight legs for the 2018/19 season with six of those being combined with the men’s events.
England Women Sevens squad for French invitational:
Lizzie Adam
Holly Aitchison
Abbie Brown ©
Abi Burton
Deborah Fleming
Sydney Gregson (Saracens Women)
Emma Hardy
Megan Jones
Alex Matthews
Celia Quansah
Helena Rowland
Emma Uren
Amy Wilson Hardy
England’s fixtures (all times GMT):
Saturday 16 March:
England v France, 09:44
England v Russia, 11:51
England v Canada, 14:20
England v Australia, 15:43
Sunday 17 March:
England v Spain, 09:00
England v Japan, 11:14
England v Ireland, 13:43
Courtesy of the RFU
