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.
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