England coach Ben Ryan has named two uncapped players in his squad as they prepare to defend their Dubai Sevens title at the end of the month.
Half-back James Lightfoot-Brown, 19, and wing Ollie Marchon, 24, are set to make their first appearances in the HSBC Sevens World Series.
And also back in the squad are former captain Ollie Phillips - for the first time since 2009 - and playmaker Dan Bibby, who appeared at the Glasgow and Marriott London Sevens tournaments last season.
There are four changes to the 12 that appeared in the Gold Coast Sevens last month with forward Chris Cracknell (knee) and backs John Brake (ankle), Christian Lewis-Pratt (knee/ankle) and Mathew Turner (ankle) unavailable.
England face Pool C opponents South Africa, Samoa and Spain on the opening day in Dubai with New Zealand, Argentina and Wales potential opponents if they progress to the quarter finals.
After Dubai, where England lifted the title in 2010 and 2011, the sides head for leg three of the nine event series, the Nelson Mandela Bay Sevens in Port Elizabeth (December 8-9).
Lightfoot-Brown is a former England Under 18 scrum half and captained the national side that beat South Africa in the sevens final at last year's Junior Commonwealth Game before signing full time after spells at London Irish and Exeter Chiefs.
Former Newcastle Falcons and Stade Francais wing Phillips, 30, also joined the sevens set-up full time last summer along with Bibby, first capped last season while studying at Cardiff Metropolitan University, and part of the Great Britain sevens team that won the World University Championships in July.
Marchon, who plays on the wing for National League One side Old Albanians, is called up after impressing in training with the squad this season.
England Sevens Head Coach Ben Ryan said: "It's exciting to be able to bring in new players from our full-time squad in James Lightfoot-Brown and Dan Bibby, and an experienced campaigner Ollie Phillips who'll all add something to our game. Ollie Marchon comes from outside the group of 19 but he's worked really hard in the three months he's been training with us and thoroughly deserves his chance.
"We're looking forward to returning to Dubai where we get great support and where we've performed consistently well over the last five years but we're under no illusions that we've got three big games on the opening day."
England Sevens squad: Dan Bibby, Chris Brightwell, James Lightfoot-Brown, Ollie Marchon, Tom Mitchell, Dan Norton, Ollie Phillips, Tom Powell, James Rodwell, Rob Vickerman (captain), Marcus Watson, Jeff Williams.
Comments
Be the first to comment on this story..