The elite league consists of just three nations, Netherlands, Spain and Sweden, Sweden replacing Russia from the previous tournament.

Three may seem an unadventurous total, but it is all part of World Rugby’s long-term strategy to develop the women’s game. These are currently the three strongest nations in Europe, but below them come many more who will have the chance to enjoy international competition. And all of this aims towards increasing the number of test matches worldwide and the extension of the 2025 World Cup to 16 nations.

Pool Phase Fixtures:

11 February Netherlands v Sweden KO 16.00 (local time) at National Rugby Center, Amsterdam
19 February Spain v Netherlands KO 17.00 (local time) at Pins Vens, Sitges, Barcelona
25 February Spain v Sweden KO 17.00 (local time) at Villajoyosa Rugby Stadium, La Vila Joiosa (Alicante)

Up north, Tamara Taylor has taken charge of the Swedish squad, after Claire Cruikshank returned to Scotland. This will be her first outing in charge. Her squad is featured here:

Sylke Haverkorn has already announced her Dutch squad:

Linde van der Velden (Exeter Chiefs), Isa van de Zand (ZRC De Duuvels), Demy Puijpje, Esmee Ligtvoet, Isa Prins (all RC Diok), Jordan Heil, Julia Morouw, Jukia Verhoeven, Lieve Stallmann, Maya Sangala, Morgane ter Cock, Sydney de Weijer (all AAC Rugby), Flore Voogd (Bobigny 93), Liza de Wild, Mhina de Vos (both RUC), Judith Frinking, Kyra Elzinga, Michaja van Capel, Nicky Dix, Quen Makkinga (all Pinguinos Rugby Burgos), Anniek Nauta, Danique Nikkels, Isis Touw, Rixt Aerts, Supartie van Heerde (all Blue Waves/Bassets, Inger Jongerius (Grenoble), Mercel de Groot (Les Abelles), Brechtje Karst (Montpellier), Anouk Veerkamp (Hartpury), Noa Donkersloot (Haagsche RC), Merel van kampen (CR Les Abelles), Jara Bunnik, Mariet Kuijken (both Bredase RC), Helen van Hattem, Jet Metz (both Lindenwood College, Missouri)

Only one familiar name here, the captain, but several players have moved abroad (to France, Spain, USA, England) partly at least to advance their game. Haverkorn is determined to raise awareness of the 15s game.

Juan Gonzalez, who takes over from the long-serving Jose ‘Yunque’ Barrio, has selected this Spanish squad:

Marieta Roman, Marta Estelles, Sidorella Bracic, Maria del Castillo, Cristina Blanco, Laura Delgado, Maria Miguel, Monica Castelo, Lucia Gayoso, Carmen Castellucci, Lourdes Alameda Vico Gorrochategui, Anna Puig, Ana Peralta, Alba Capell, Alba Maria Alonso, Lucia Diaz, Julia Castro, Alba Alpin, Ines Bueso-Inchausti, Maider Aresti, Iciar Pozo, Claudia Pena, Marta Fresno, Alba Vinuesa, Claudia Perez, Tecla Masoko, Marta Carmona, Clara Piquero, Zahia Perez

Spain are the recurrent champions at this level, but they will have to get used to playing without their unforgettable talisman, Patricia Garcia. A lot of other familiar names are missing too. We will soon find out how promising the new generation is. Odds on Laura Delgado being appointed captain.

All games will be live-streamed on www.rugbyeurope.tv

Head coach James Rodwell has named a 13-player group for the event which takes place at Budapest Rugby Centre Stadium.

Abbie Brown captains a squad with one change from last weekend as Emma Uren returns after sustaining an injury in the World Sevens Series leg in Toulouse last month.

Rodwell said: “We’ve had a strong week of training and are looking to continue where we left off last week in Zagreb.

“It’s great to welcome Emma Uren back. “We know we need to be diligent on and off the field as we continue our preparation for the Commonwealth Games (Birmingham 2022) and our World Cup qualifier.

“It’s an opportunity for all players to get some game time and put their hand up for selection for the games next month.”

England women’s sevens squad for Zagreb 2022
Maisy Allen
Ellie Boatman
Abbie Brown (C)
Heather Cowell
Grace Crompton
Merryn Doidge
Amy Wilson Hardy
Alicia Maude
Isla Norman-Bell
Celia Quansah
Jade Shekells
Lauren Torley
Emma Uren

Women’s pool A schedule for day one Budapest 2022 – Friday 17 June

England Women v Israel Women – KO 13.00 (local time)/12 noon (UK time)
England Women v Georgia Women – KO 15.45 (local time)/14.45 (UK time)
England Women v Finland Women – KO 18.30 (local time)/17.30 (UK time)

With thanks to the RFU

Spain v Russia (20 February), and Spain v The Netherlands (28 February); both games to take place in Guadalajara, Spain.

The one match already played saw Russia beat NL 27-21. The winner moves on to dispute the final European place with Ireland, Italy and Scotland. So it is a long hard road ahead for the winning nation.

The news has all sorts of implications. First and foremost, the three nations deserve congratulation for having fought through all the barriers of travel restrictions and quarantine to make this possible; second, it marks a major step forward in the much delayed progress of the RWC’s qualifying process. Whether other parts of the world will be able to follow suit over the same time-scale is doubtful. But it’s an encouraging boost.

It’s an irony that Holland is experiencing Siberian-style weather conditions at present. Let’s hope both teams can travel hazard-free.

In playing terms, it means that the three test players involved in the Allianz Premier 15s are likely to be absent on higher duty for the next few weeks. Patricia Garcia and Laura Delgado have already returned home in readiness. Linde van der Velden must surely follow their example as the captain of her national side. She has been in dominant form this season.

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

The tournament also doubled up as a Youth Olympic qualifier.

A total of 16 teams competed in the qualifier, with France securing a place at the Youth Olympic Games which takes place in Buenos Aires, Argentina in October this year.

Great Britain had victories over Georgia (52-0), Russia (31-0) and Sweden (54-0) to seal a place in the quarter-finals.

They met the Netherlands in the quarters and won impressively 29-0 before a 15-0 semi-final win over Italy set up a final with France.

It was a hard-fought contest under tough conditions and after trailing 10-0 at the break, they could not overturn the deficit with France emerging victorious.

“We’re really disappointed not to have secured the win against France and subsequently the experience of playing in the Youth Olympics but the overriding emotion from across the weekend is a great sense of pride in what we have achieved in such a short space of time,” said Team GB U18 head coach James Cooper.

“We worked really hard in the two training camps we had as a squad and we’ve learned a lot over the two days here in France, constantly building our performances.

“Ultimately, when it came down to the final we didn’t finish off some of the chances that we created which cost us the winning spot. Congratulations to France who put in a great performance and will go on to play in the Youth Olympic Games.”

On day one of the tournament Great Britain started strongly and confidently against Georgia with players demonstrating quality in attack and great line speed, earning them tries from a total of eight different players and their first win.

They went on to play Russia in their second pool game which was a physical encounter. After a slow first five minutes Amelia Hooper broke the deadlock with a great break to put the first points on the scoreboard for Great Britain.

A further four tries from Hooper’s teammates saw the full-time score 31-0.

In the final game of the pool stages Great Britain were up against a very competitive Swedish side. Great Britain hit their stride in the second half stretching the Swedish defence with width and clinical breaks, ending the game an impressive 54 points to Sweden’s zero.

Team GB U18 squad for Youth Olympic Games Qualifiers, Vichy, France:

Shauna Bennett (Gloucester- Hartpury Womens RFC)
Lucy Burgess (Winscombe)
Jessica Cooksey (Winscombe)
Tabitha Copson (Gloucester-Hartpury Womens RFC)
Megan Davey (Loughborough Lightning)
Lauren Fisher (Pulborough)
Emma Hardy (Loughborough Lightning)
Amelia Harper (Lougborough Lightning)
Jodie Mallard (Wellingborough)
Georgia Newman (Cobham)
Sophie Peters (Winscombe)
Beth Wilcock (Brockenhurst College)

Team GB U18 Pool A results:

Great Britain U18 52-0 Georgia
Tries: Emma Hardy, Amelia Harper, Sophie Peters, Tabitha Copson, Beth Wilcock, Lauren Fisher, Jodie Mallard, Lucy Burgess

Great Britain U18 31-0 Russia
Tries: Amelia Hooper, Lauren Fisher, Megan Davey, Tabitha Copson, Emma Hardy

Great Britain U18 54-0 Sweden
Tries: Beth Wilcock (2), Shauna Bennett, Georgia Newman, Emma Hardy

Quarter-final: Great Britain U18 29-0 Netherlands
Tries: Shauna Bennett (2), Emma Hardy, Amelia Harper, Georgia Newman

Semi-final: Great Britain U18 15-0 Italy
Tries: Jodie Mallard, Shauna Bennett, Megan Davey

Final: Great Britain U18 0-22 France

Courtesy of the RFU 

With Abbie Brown unavailable through injury (hamstring), the squad includes uncapped England Sevens development player Olivia Jones. Bristol second row Jones has represented England U20 five times, including their two most recent games against France in March.

The remaining 11 names have all played on the HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series already this season.

The two-part European series provides England with their final chance to qualify for the Rugby World Cup Sevens in San Francisco in July 2018 with qualification through the HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series now unlikely with England eighth in the overall standings following five of the six rounds.

England face Ireland, Italy and Portugal in Pool C with all games livestreamed via http://www.rugbyeurope.eu/competitions/2017-womens-sevens-grand-prix-series.

England Women Sevens coach James Bailey said: “This is a strong squad of players who have gained valuable experience on the world circuit over the course of the season.

“It is vitally important that we perform well in this two-leg Series to earn qualification for the World Cup next year and we will be looking to make a positive start this weekend.”

The second leg of the Rugby Europe Women’s Grand Prix Series takes place in Kazan, Russia on 8-9 July.

England Women Sevens squad, Malemort

Natasha Brennan
Katie Mason
Alice Richardson-Watmore
Millie Wood
Olivia Jones
Deborah Fleming
Heather Fisher
Kelly Smith
Lotte Clapp
Jo Richardson-Watmore
Holly Aitchison
Chantelle Miell

Schedule Pool C (all times in BST and games available via www.rugbyeurope.eu)

Saturday 17 June
v Portugal, 9.44am
v Italy, 12.29pm
v Ireland, 3.14pm

Report courtesy of England Rugby

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