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Rugby: England announce World Cup Sevens squad

June 18, 2024

England Women Sevens Head Coach Barry Maddocks has today (Tuesday 18 June) named his 12 woman squad to compete in the Rugby World Cup Sevens next week held in Moscow from 28-30 June.

Maddocks said, “Selecting this squad for the RWC was a hugely difficult process.

“The players came into this programme six months ago and all of them have worked extremely hard across many tournaments. There are some world class players who have not made the squad and that just underlines how competitive this process was.

“I am delighted to name Michaela (Staniford) as captain. She has worked tirelessly for this since 2009. She has plenty of experience and is a real talisman for the team.”

England have been drawn in one of the toughest pools of the tournament where they will face Russia, France and Japan on day one. Russia were crowned European Sevens champions on Sunday, beating France, and taking England’s 2012 title.

“I am really pleased with our squad, it is very strong, and I know on their day we can be up there fighting for World Cup glory.” Maddocks said. “We have, however, got an extremely tough pool and that means we have to be on top of our game right from the start on day one.

“We cannot let anything slip. Playing the host union and form team of the moment is certainly a massive challenge, whilst France can beat anyone on their day. Japan too are a good footballing side.

“We have spent six months preparing for the RWC and we are now nearly there. We have prepared as much as we can and now it is a matter of delivering on two days of competition. And we are all really excited by that prospect.”

England full team:

Joanne Watmore (Worcester)
Heather Fisher (Worcester)
Marlie Packer (Bristol)
Michaela Staniford (Wasps) (C)
Rachael Burford (Thurrock)
Natasha Hunt (Lichfield)
Alice Richardson (Richmond) (VC)
Katy McLean (Darlington Mowden Park Sharks)
Emily Scarratt (Lichfield)
Katherine Merchant (Worcester)
Claire Allan (Richmond)
Danielle Waterman (Worcester)

Lizzie Flint, Sportsister
The Women’s Sports Magazine

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