England’s opponents named for Emirates Airline London Sevens

Clashes with Australia and Scotland are the highlights for England at the Emirates Airline London Sevens as the pools and fixtures are announced for the tournament.Ben Ryan’s side will be going all out to defend their title at Twickenham and also face Russia in the day one pool stage on May 22.Last year England took the trophy and delighted the record crowd, beating New Zealand 31-26 with a sudden-death try in extra time.

This year promises to attract an even bigger attendance with more than 30,000 tickets already sold.With just two legs remaining in this year’s IRB Sevens World Series, the home side need to pick up full points if they are to overtake Australia – who are four points ahead – and close the 20-point gap between themselves and third placed Fiji. Having lost out to the Wallabies 17-12 in Adelaide last month, a week later England turned the tables with a 26-19 victory in the Hong Kong quarter final and will be banking on home advantage when the two teams meet in the last pool match of day one.

Head coach Ryan said: "We can’t wait to return to Twickenham and get our title defence underway. We are up against tough opposition in the pool stages, with Russia, Scotland and Australia, but coming to London for our home event is always special and I’m hoping this will give the players an extra boost as they play in front of their family and friends."Last year the crowd were fantastic, they really got the behind the players right the way to the final. This year promises to be even more exciting with the superhero fancy dress theme and we hope to see as many fans as possible out in fancy dress on Sunday taking part in the record attempt."The action kicks off on Saturday at 10.30am with leaders Samoa taking on the improving USA. Other highlights include Fiji v South Africa (6.44pm) and second place New Zealand v Kenya at 7.06pm, before England take on Australia at 7.28pm.

Small hits the big time

RFU Elite Referee Andrew Small has been appointed to the IRB International Referee panel for the first time in his career.

Small, 34, will take charge of South Africa’s home test against Italy in June.

Further RFU Elite referee appointments include Dave Pearson (44) who has whistle blowing duties for the Argentina v Scotland test in the summer and Wayne Barnes (30) who will be in charge of New Zealand v Ireland and Samoa v Japan in June, and the Tri-Nations match between South Africa and Australia in September.

Robin Goodliffe (53) joins the Assistant Referee panel for the first time. JP Doyle (31) and Greg Garner (29) have been appointed to the 2010 IRB Junior World Championship panel for the tournament in Argentina.

Chris White (47) a test veteran of over 50 games comes off the IRB International Referee Panel after 12 years. Chris will continue to be part of the RFU Elite Referee unit for the remainder of the season.

Head of Elite Referee Development, Ed Morrison said: "The appointments are richly deserved and all reflect the hard work that Andrew, Dave, Wayne, Robin, JP and Greg have put into their jobs over the last 12 months.

"Tony Spreadbury, Brian Campsall and I with Rob Andrew’s full input and backing will continue to develop our officials to ensure that we have a strong presence on the international panels and the experience they will gain from all of these games is essential to their on-going development.

"I’d like to thank Chris White for the superb work he has carried out as a member of the IRB International Referee’s Panel over the last 12 years and his track record speaks for itself. He will continue to be a key member of the Elite Referee Unit until the end of this season at which time we’ll discuss with him a suitable career pathway.

"Chris has a huge amount to offer the game and we would like to utilise his considerable experience in the best way possible going forward."