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Preview: 2008 Middlesex Sevens

Friday 15th August 2008

Defending champs: Newcastle will put their title on the line this Saturday

The Middlesex Sevens raises the curtain on the Guinness Premiership season on Saturday at Twickenham, and some of the 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 U20 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 will also bring a strong squad for their tilt at the trophy, a campaign which begins with a match against local rivals Gloucester.

Full details of their squads 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 select a genuinely world-class squad.

England Sevens stars Richard Haughton and Dave Seymour look set to be joined by South African international Brent Russell.

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 fifteen league appearances for Worcester, making him the third-top scorer in the league in his debut season. Benjamin was then part of the England U20 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 U20 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?

The action commences early on Saturday, when the Dragons take on London Irish.

Middlesex Sevens draw:
All times are local - GMT+1

1 - 10:40 Dragons v London Irish
2 - 11:00 Newcastle v Northampton
3 - 11:20 Harlequins v Leeds Carnegie
4 - 11:40 Sale v Ospreys
5 - 12:00 Gloucester v Bath
6 - 12:20 Worcester v Bristol
7 - 12:40 Leicester v Wasps
8 - 13:00 Saracens v British Army

9 - 13:20 Loser 1 v Loser 2
10 - 13:40 L3 v L4
11 -14:00 L5 v L6
12 - 14:20 L7 v L8

13 - 14:40 Winner 1 v Winner 2
14 - 15:00 W3 v W4
15 - 15:20 W5 v W6
16 - 15:40 W7 v W8

17 - 16:00 W9 v W10
18 - 16:20 W11 v W 12

19 - 16:40 W13 v W14
20 - 17:00 W15 v W16

21 - Plate Final 17:35 W17 v W18

22 - Grand Final 18:10 W19 v W20

Middlesex Sevens Squads

London Wasps: Henry Barratt, Chris Bishay, Matt Corker, Rob Hoadley, James Honeyben, Michael Kedgley, Lachlan Mitchell, Mark Odejobi, Joe Simpson, Christian Wade, Dominic Waldouck, Rob Webber

Leicester Tigers: Tom Croft, George Chuter (c), Seb Pearson, Elliott Read, Michael Gillick, Manu Tuilagi, Finlay Barnham, Rickie Aley, Richard Blaze, Tom Armes, Marco Wentzel, Nathaniel Lowers.

Warriors Sevens: Jake Abbott, Tom Wood, Matt Cox, James Collins, Matt Powell, Jonny Arr, Matthew Jones, Marcel Garvey, Miles Benjamin, Alex Grove, Charlie Fellows, Greg King

London Irish: Paul Hodgson (c), Steffon Armitage, James Clarke, Tomas De Vedia, Charlie Gower, Topsy Ojo, David Paice, Tom Parker, Jamie Stevenson, Adam Thompstone.

Bristol: G Barden (c), O Hayes, R Pennycook, C Pennycook, J Brown, R jenkins, V Lilo, L Robertson, D Lemi, S Alford, H Thomas, N Scott.

Northampton Saints: John Brake (c), Will Harries, Neil Starling, Paul Diggin, Dave Ward, Courtney Lawes, Anders Mogensen, Liam Neale, Olliey Storey, Nick Greenhalgh, Owen Giles, Stuart Friswell.

Harlequins: Epi Taione, Tom Guest, Chris Robshaw, Nick Easter, Seb Jewell, Gonzalo Tiesi, Ugo Monye (c), Mike Brown, Waisea Luveniyali, Dave Strettle, Darren Edwards.

Sale Sharks: Mike Hills. Captain, Sean Cox, Neil Briggs, Carl Fearns, Alex Shaw, Chris Leck, Nick McLeod, Selorm Kuadey, Nick Royle, Peter Swatkins, Ed Styles, James Jones.

Ospreys: Steve Tandy (c), Ed Shervington, Rory Pitman, Lee Bevan, David Bishop, Kristian Phillips, Dan Biggar, Gareth Owen, David Evans, James King, James Merriman, Ashley Beck.

Dragons: Craig Hill, Lewis Evans, James Harris, Joe Bearman, Steve Jones, Tom Issacs, Wayne Evans (captain), Gareth Maule, Tom Riley, Martyn Thomas, Tal Selley, James Lewis.

Newcastle: John Rudd, Scott Riddell (c), Paddy Dias, Micky Young, Luke Fielden, Andrew Fenby, Ollie Phillips, Ross Batty, Ross Samson, Rob Miller, Danny Williams, Aaron Myers.

Leeds: Joe Ford, Scott Freer, Jacob Rowan, Tom Denton, James Craig, Adam Greendale, Calum Clark, Rob Vickerman, Danny White, James Brooks (c).

Gloucester: Guy Thompson, Tristan Roberts, Dan Williams, Jack Adams (c), Andres Pretorius, Charlie Sharples, Jonny May, Mark Foster, Charlie Simpson-Daniel, Dan Norton, Dave Lewis, Henry Trinder.

Bath: Adrian Griffiths, Guy Mercer, Ed Jackson, Scott Hobson, Josh Ovens, Jack Bentall, Michael Lipman (c), Luke Cozens, Mike Baxter, Nick Abendanon, Matt Banahan, Lee Audis.

Saracens: Dave Seymour (c), Ben Skirving, Don Barrell, Francisco Leonelli, Edd Thrower, Brent Russell, Richard Haughton, Kameli Ratuvou, Jackson Wray, Mike Stanley, James Short, Dan Caprice.

British Army: tbc