England's James Rodwell goes into his 34th consecutive HSBC Sevens World Series tournament this weekend intent on finishing the season on a high on home soil. 

The 27 year-old forward from Birmingham is now fourth on the list of England’s most experienced sevens experts, having overtaken Richard Haughton (31) last month in Tokyo, and the most experienced forward with three backs - Rob Thirlby (35), Simon Amor (43) and Ben Gollings (70) - ahead of him on the all-time rankings.

England finished runners-up to New Zealand at last weekend's Glasgow Sevens, with Ben Ryan's side lying third in the overall standings with 123 points behind Fiji (139) and New Zealand (150).

“We’ve had an okay year," said Rodwell.

"It’s not what we set out to do because we had the goal of winning the Series but a couple of close games have got in the way.

“We’ve often been knocked out by a score or less which shows how close the games are and how close we could have been this season but we're now sitting in third place.

“We want to finish the season on a high to show we haven’t set that unrealistic a target of winning the Series. We can show we’re there or thereabouts so we can get some momentum going into next season and it'll be incredible to finish on a high at our home venue."

Rodwell's first sighting in England colours was in Edinburgh in 2008 but he didn't get onto the pitch until the Dubai tournament later that year at the start of the 2009/10 Series. 

Since then he has appeared in all bar a handful of England's matches played in that time – all the more remarkable given his position as a forward who is England’s lineout and restart specialist.

“He’s our most-capped forward of all time and that’s a testament to his professionalism and the way he’s kept himself fit and in form for so long,” said England Sevens coach Ben Ryan. “He’s only in his mid-20s so there’s more to come too.”

Rodwell in 'Aerial battle'

Crowds

This weekend Rodwell will be watched by around 80 friends and family in the crowd for the ninth and final round of the 2011/12 Series, with the attendance expected to exceed last year's of more than 100,000 fans across the two days.

In 2011 England had a disappointing campaign on home soil, but Rodwell will be hoping for a similar outcome as in 2009 when he scored a try in the Cup final as England snatched a dramatic 31-26 sudden death extra time victory against New Zealand.

"It was just an incredible feeling," added Rodwell.

"The lap after the final must have taken an hour and I couldn’t believe how passionate the support was. We won on the last play when Micky Young got over the line and it was just incredible.

"That win in 2009 in London really kick-started the tournament at Twickenham. The crowd has almost doubled in three years and that's partly because of the excitement of how we’re playing and the belief that we can go out and win tournaments."

England face matches with France, USA and Samoa on day one of the tournament, having been seeded at the top of Pool B after their performance in Glasgow.

You can buy tickets for the Marriott London Sevens via RFU.com, with weekend tickets from £30, with single day tickets from £18 and kids tickets from £5 each day.

England win 2009 London Sevens