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| Harlequins' David Strettle, one of the Guinness Premiership stars to appear at the Middlesex Sevens |
| Stars set to shine at Middlesex Sevens |
| 14 August 2008, 11:54 am |
| By Staff |
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| The Middlesex Sevens takes place on Saturday at Twickenham Stadium and some of the Guinness Premiership's brightest stars are set to battle it out in the shortened form of the game. |
The reigning champions and holders of the Russell Cargill Cup are Newcastle Falcons and they have already announced their team, with Scott Riddell captaining the side and last year’s victorious skipper, England Sevens star Ollie Phillips, acting as player coach. Falcons will include their new signing from rugby league, Danny Williams, as well as another from the Newcastle fly half factory, England Under-20 star Rob Miller.
With members of the England squad gathering at Twickenham today (Thursday) for a pre-season training session, many clubs are choosing to send their England players to the Middlesex Sevens, rather than involve them late in other pre-season matches.
Harlequins will make the short journey from the Twickenham Stoop with a very strong squad, including England men Mike Brown, Nick Easter and David Strettle. Sevens legend and Saxons wing Ugo Monye is also involved, as are Saxons team-mates Tom Guest and Chris Robshaw.
European Challenge Cup winners Bath Rugby will also bring a strong squad for their tilt at the trophy, a campaign which begins with a match against local rivals Gloucester Rugby. Full details of their squad have yet to be announced, but more England Saxons will be on show with Nick Abendanon set to be joined by the Guinness Premiership’s second top try scorer, Matt Banahan. They will be joined by England back row Michael Lipman.
Saracens face arguably the toughest draw of the day as they take on renowned sevens specialists, the British Army. However, it seems new Director of Rugby and former Australia coach Eddie Jones, has decided to fight fire with fire and will selected a genuinely world class squad.
England Sevens stars Richard Haughton and Dave Seymour look set to be joined by South African international Brent Russell.
All teams for the Middlesex Sevens must announce their squads by Friday, with teams like London Wasps and Leicester Tigers expected to name a number of their high profile England stars and Welsh regions Dragons and Opsreys expected to do likewise with their Welsh stars.
In addition to the established stars, the Middlesex Sevens has a developed a proud history of announcing new talent onto the domestic stage.
Last season one of the finds of the tournament was Worcester Warriors’ wing Miles Benjamin. The 20 year-old helped take Worcester into the Sevens final, before making his Guinness Premiership debut against Leicester Tigers two months later.
Benjamin scored nine tries in just 15 league appearances for Worcester, making him the third top scorer in the league in his debut season. Benjamin was then part of the England Under-20 squad that progressed to the final of the Junior World Championships, scoring four tries in the process.
Benjamin will be back to see if he can help Worcester Warriors to another Middlesex Sevens Final, but who will grasp the chance to make a name for themselves at this year’s tournament? Perhaps Newcastle Falcons fly half Rob Miller, or his England Under-20 team-mate, Sale Sharks’ Ukrainian born flyer Selorm Kuadey, or even Charlie Simpson-Daniel, the younger brother of current Guinness Premiership Player of the Season, James?
Supporters wanting to watch the traditional curtain raiser to the English season can still buy tickets for the Twickenham spectacular.
Tickets for the Middlesex Sevens can be purchased from the Middlesex Sevens website, www.middlesex7s.com or from Ticketmaster on 0871 871 0777, with discounts available for groups of ten or more. |
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