Amor 'encouraged' ahead of Exeter

England Sevens Head Coach Simon Amor believes his young team's progress in the Rugby Europe Sevens Grand Prix has been "very encouraging".

Last weekend saw England beat Russia 26-14 to win the plate final in Lyon after a fourth-place finish in Moscow the previous week.

Following a top four finish on the HSBC Sevens World Series in May, which secured Olympic qualification for Team GB, Amor has taken the opportunity to blood some new players on a highly competitive European circuit with other teams still searching for Olympic qualification.

England started the tournament in Lyon brightly with a 17-5 win over Wales but it came at a cost losing their most experienced player Tom Bowen through injury for the rest of the weekend.

A 19-19 draw against Belgium followed and a closely-fought 21-24 loss to Russia saw them finish second in their pool, which set up a quarter final against Spain on day two.

Amor's young England side were well beaten, 26-5, by an in-form Spanish team but responded well by beating Italy 26-0 to progress to the plate final where they beat pool opponents Russia.

“Saturday’s pool stage was a great learning experience for us," said Amor. "Unfortunately we lost Tom Bowen (pictured) in the first game, who was our most experienced player, so lots of young players were thrown in at the deep end.

"I thought, while they made some mistakes, they learned and performed well against some very good, well-established and experienced international sevens teams.

“The boys lost to a very good Spanish side in the quarter-final. The players had played 17 or 18 games in a row as a group over three consecutive weeks, so physical and mental fatigue was clearly a challenge.

"But the way they responded against a very strong Italian team and then to beat Russia, who had qualified for the World Series and are going for Olympic qualification, was fantastic.

"A huge amount of credit should go to a young group of players and I was incredibly pleased with their first steps on the sevens pathway.

“Alex Davis captained the team well and I thought Cameron Cowell was excellent both in Moscow and in Lyon. Sam Egerton really stepped up having played a lot of Championship rugby and showed his leadership qualities. I was pleased for James Cordy-Redden who has made clear improvement over the last three weeks.

“But overall for a young and inexperienced team to get fourth in Russia and a fifth place in Lyon, in a very competitive European competition, is very encouraging.

“The Olympic qualification means that everyone is fighting for places in terms of that opportunity so the standard has stepped up and it is without doubt the most competitive of all the continental qualification tournaments.”

With two events played and one tournament to go in Exeter, Amor (pictured) is clearly happy with the way this young side has developed but will look to select a strong squad after resting a number of his players who regularly featured on the World Series last season.

However, he expects those who played in Moscow and Lyon to be challenging for places in his team to play in Exeter next month.

“I’m really pleased with how the new guys have progressed. It sets them up well as to how that group of young players can develop throughout the year. We will be taking a very experienced team to Exeter - it is our home tournament and we will do everything we can to win it.

"Our experienced guys needed a break after the World Series and having had a few weeks off they will have recharged their batteries. They will go into that tournament without any competitive game time under their belts but it will be a good challenge and be great to get some of those experienced heads back in.

“The ideal way to progress a group of young players is to partner them up with experienced guys as well. We were able to do that in Moscow with Phil Burgess and Warwick Lahmert. A number of the younger guys have done well these last three weeks and have staked a claim for a place in Exeter.

“The European tournaments are a good standard and the best below the world series so we are very lucky to be able to give these players the opportunity to learn and develop at these tournaments.

“The experience these guys are getting now is invaluable and it is more than likely they will be playing on the World Series next season. To be able to play them at the European level is brilliant as it provides that stepping stone.”

The Rugby Europe Seven series includes three tournaments – Moscow, Lyon and Exeter (11-12 July).

Tickets for the Exeter leg are priced at £15 for a day pass for Saturday or Sunday, or £25 for a weekend pass which includes entry to the Friday night event. Children’s tickets are also available £7.50 per day or £10 for a weekend pass.

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