England on a roll

Published: Wednesday, 2. November, 2011 in category Sevens World Series

England prepared for the IRB Sevens World Series by winning four of their five games in the warm-up tournament in Elche this week.

Head coach Ben Ryan took a 14-man squad to Spain for a useful work-out that saw them beat Scotland 24-14, France 29-14, Wales 26-19 and Spain 46-5.

The only reverse came in the day's penultimate game when they went down 21-24 against Portugal.

After mixing up his side throughout the day to maximise the amount of game time for the players, Ryan was in a positive mood ahead of the start of the series in the Gold Coast on November 25 and 26.

"We mixed things up, tried a few things out so I'm not too worried about the final score in that game against Portugal and we finished off the day playing against Spain in the last game and really put them to the sword.

"We've got one or two things to tighten up and a few more players in the end stage of rehabilitation to come back so overall I'm pleased with where we are. We'll have 20 to choose a 12 from for Australia and that's going to be a tough job."

Last season's leading scorer Dan Norton underlined his form with eight tries, including a hat-trick against Portugal and braces against France and Spain.

The draw for the first leg of the series in Australia takes place later this week and Ryan is due to name his squad on November 10.