Ben Gollings, the leading point scorer in IRB Sevens World Series history, is the most experienced member of the England Sevens squad named by coach Ben Ryan on Friday for the opening two events of the 2008/09 Series in Dubai and George.

Gollings now plays his club rugby in Australia and has scored a record 1,782 points – including 158 tries – in his 46 tournaments in the Series and is joined by the likes of Tom Biggs, Uche Odouza, Ollie Phillips and Kevin Barrett who also played for England last season.

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Isoa Damudamu returns from the shoulder injury he picked up last season and is joined by two members of the Royal Navy in Royal Marine Greg Barden and Josua Drauniniu, who will be making their England Sevens debuts.

England have been drawn in Pool D with Portugal, USA and Fiji at the Emirates Airline Dubai Sevens on 28-29 November and will then face Tunisia, France and defending champions New Zealand in Pool A of the Emirates Airline South Africa Sevens a week later in George.

Ryan, whose side were beaten by Fiji in the semi finals in Dubai last year, is keen to see how this group of players perform with the Rugby World Cup Sevens taking place back in Dubai at the new ‘The Sevens’ venue from 5-7 March 2009.
 
“This is a very exciting time for English rugby across the board and the energy from the senior side is rubbing off on the other representative sides,” admitted Ryan. “The desire from each squad to reach the highest standard is clear.

“We want to reach the top, and that means winning the World Series and the Rugby World Cup Sevens.

“I’m looking forward to seeing what these players can do. We have put in a lot of hard work behind the scenes and we have every intention to make these next two seasons hugely successful and put in some world class performances.”

England Sevens squad:
Greg Barden (Bristol Rugby/Royal Navy)*, Kevin Barrett (Exeter Chiefs), Tom Biggs (Leeds Carnegie), Chris Cracknell (Exeter Chiefs), Isoa Damudamu (Army), Josua Drauniniu (Exeter Chiefs/Royal Navy)*, Ben Gollings (Gold Coast, Australia), Uche Odouza (Suntory, Japan), Ollie Phillips (Newcastle Falcons), James Rodwell (Moseley RFC), Rob Vickerman (Leeds Carnegie), Micky Young (Newcastle Falcons).

*Denotes uncapped for England Sevens