News
England seek Sevens revival
November 26 2008
Since England won the second of their back to back titles in Dubai under previous coach Mike Friday in 2006, they have only provided the likes of New Zealand, Fiji, South Africa and Samoa with a sporadic threat on the world Sevens scene.
When England have been successful in Sevens one thing they always seemed to possess was speed. Speed of action in the case of Ugo Monye, Mathew Tait and Tom Varndell, and speed of thought from the likes of former captain and scrum-half Simon Amor.
All have since departed the set-up, which is now presided over by Ben Ryan, and results last season fell way below par for one of the game's superpowers.
There were embarrassing losses against the Cook Islands and Kenya - the Africans beat them three times - but Ryan is now confident that England can turn a corner in this World Cup season.
"I can't wait to play in the new Dubai stadium and I'm looking forward to us throwing ourselves out there and seeing where we land," he said.
"We feel that we're better prepared than we have been for certainly the last two seasons and last year with the backing of the crowd we were in a semi-final that went down to the wire against Fiji so this year we want to go one better."
One reason for Ryan's optimism is that, in Uche Odouza and Tom Biggs, England once again possess the pace to hurt opposition.
The diminutive Biggs burst onto the scene last season, notably scoring the winning try at Twickenham against all-conquering New Zealand, while Odouza is a natural foil, all bulging biceps and thighs.
"Uche is a bit of a hidden gem," said Ryan.
"Nobody really knows too much about him. We've unearthed a lot of wings in the past, and he's certainly another alongside Biggs."
This season Odouza has sought to further his rugby education by joining the Suntory Goliath club in Japan after being spotted on the IRB Sevens World Series.
"I got a lot of coverage off the back of the Sevens and the opportunity came up and it just seemed too good to miss. It's quite young to be going to Japan, at 22, but I can always go back to England later," he said.
"It's been a whole new experience for me and I'm really enjoying it.
"I'm getting to play a lot of rugby, and getting to grips with the language a little bit more too."
Suntory's most famous current import is George Gregan, while a number of the Japanese national side are also on the playing staff. The combined experience has helped Odouza achieve his goal of becoming a more complete rugby player.
"You learn a lot playing in a team with a guy like George Gregan and I'm playing a new position at full-back as well, so trying to bring some new skills into my fifteen-man game," said Odouza.
Odouza is well enough aware of England's decorated past in Sevens, and in Dubai, to know that thousands of fans will be expecting great things from him at 'The Sevens' stadium this weekend.
"The guys who have played wing before and won games for England have all gone on to bigger and better things," he said.
"Ugo (Monye) is playing for England at the moment, Tom (Varndell) has too, so they are big shoes to fill but hopefully things will go okay for us, we're here to challenge.
"No more plates and bowls this season, we want to be playing in Cup semis and Cup finals, it's a massive year with the World Cup and hopefully we can keep the same base of players together, start to learn and read each other a lot better and deliver.
"We've had the best preparation that we've had for a long time. All the players are fit, now we've just got to go out there and contend with the Dubai heat."