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Ollie Marchon training with England Sevens

OLLIE Marchon will make a poignant England Sevens debut in Dubai this week after a remarkable journey back into the professional game.

The 24 year-old from Hertfordshire was a spectator in the stands in the United Arab Emirates when England lifted titles there in 2010 and 2011 without even daring to dream he could be lining up in the desert as part of the team.

Six months ago he was more likely to be playing against them, holding a qualification for one of Friday’s Pool C opponents.

But this week he puts his career as a personal trainer and semi-pro player for National League One side Old Albanians on hold to pull on an England shirt, six years after a knee injury ended his hopes of a senior contract at Saracens and threatened to force him out of the game for good.

“After the injury I went travelling, went to university and for a little while kind of resented rugby and didn’t take it too seriously,” said Marchon.

“I did my three years at university and then got back into it, moved home, found a good semi-pro club in Old Albanians and we managed to get promoted.

“Last summer was my first of trying to play serious sevens. A teammate of mine asked the coach of the Wailers, who play on the invitation circuit, to have a look at me. I played the first tournament, got invited back, played on the Super Sevens Series this summer and it all took off from there.

“I might have played for Portugal – my dad’s Portuguese by nationality, my mum’s from Nuneaton – then after the last tournament of the summer [England Sevens assistant coach] Russell Earnshaw approached me about training with England and that’s how it came about.

“I’m over the moon about it. I didn’t envisage it happening and I’m hoping I take the opportunity.”

Marchon’s call-up is one of four changes England have made for Dubai.

Half back James Lightfoot-Brown, 19, is another debutant while playmaker Dan Bibby returns and former captain Ollie Phillips is back after a three-year lay-off.

England Sevens forward James Rodwell

Note: The Dubai Sevens is live on Sky Sports 3 & 3HD from 06:00 GMT on Friday, November 30.

JAMES RODWELL has banked two Dubai Sevens titles and is one of three England players aiming to complete an unprecedented treble in the desert this weekend.

Forwards Rodwell and Tom Powell, and wing Dan Norton are the trio who lifted titles in 2010 and 2011, beating Samoa and France in back-to-back finals.

This season’s HSBC Sevens World Series started with England missing out on the quarter finals on the Gold Coast in October.

But Rodwell – Player of the Tournament here in 2010 – expects his side to tighten up in defence and unleash some new and old faces to good effect in Friday’s Pool C matches against South Africa (07:20 GMT), Samoa (11:28) and Portugal (15:44).

James Lightfoot-Brown and Ollie Marchon are set to make their debuts while Dan Bibby has two tournaments under his belt from last season. England have also called up 2009 World Player of the Year Ollie Phillips following his spells in the 15-a-side game with Stade Francais and Gloucester.

“We spent a good week analysing the Gold Coast, seeing what went wrong, why we didn’t perform, and there’s a big focus on our defence for this tournament,” said Rodwell.

“We put that down as the number one thing for us to improve on and we’ve spent a lot of work in training on that.

“We know our attack is good; we just need the ball to show other teams what we can do and that comes from good defence to get it back.”

England lost experienced forward Chris Cracknell (knee) and last season’s leading try-scorer Mat Turner (ankle) to injury in Queensland with playmaker Christian Lewis-Pratt (ankle) hurt in the Dubai build-up.

But England can call on more talent from within their 19-strong full-time sevens squad as well as drafting in Marchon from National League One side Old Albanians.

“We’ve got a really exciting squad for this weekend with some new faces and some old ones as well,” added Rodwell.

“My new roommate James Lightfoot-Brown has got some incredible feet on him. He’s only 19 years-old but he’s definitely one to watch this weekend.

“Ollie Marchon the other new cap is a really direct player, he’s going to add a lot of impetus to the forwards; he runs really hard.

“We’ve also got Ollie Phillips - the Old Master - coming back giving a good bit of experience to the boys, and Dan Bibby’s full of energy. He’s got great feet and awareness and he can spot a gap that other people can’t see.”

Note: The Dubai Sevens is live on Sky Sports 3 and 3HD from 06:00 GMT tomorrow.

ENGLAND Sevens have made one change to their 12-man squad on the eve of the Dubai Sevens.

Former Stade Francais wing Ollie Phillips is sidelined with a calf injury and his place is taken by experienced half back John Brake, who is one of 19 full-time sevens players on England’s books.

England face Pool C rivals South Africa (07:20GMT), Samoa (11:28) and Portugal (13:44) at the start of the second leg of this season's HSBC Sevens World Series.

England Sevens: Dan Bibby, John Brake, Chris Brightwell, James Lightfoot-Brown, Ollie Marchon (Old Albanians), Tom Mitchell, Dan Norton, Tom Powell, James Rodwell, Rob Vickerman (captain), Marcus Watson, Jeff Williams.

ENGLAND were edged out of the cup quarter finals again on another day of shocks in the HSBC Sevens World Series.

They beat Samoa 19-17 but went down 19-12 against South Africa and then succumbed 22-21 to giantkillers Portugal in their final Pool C match at the Dubai Sevens.

Portugal duly topped the group after beating South Africa 12-10 while Wales, Canada and Kenya also reached the last eight.

England looked like they’d booked their place in the quarter finals when Dan Norton put them 21-19 up with a minute to go in monsoon conditions, only for Portugal to break out and take the lead with a penalty after Norton was yellow-carded for impeding an opponent. England got the ball back but couldn’t get over the line. Their other tries came from James Rodwell and John Brake.

It completed a tough day for the side after centre Tom Mitchell broke a leg in the Samoa match and captain Rob Vickerman was suspended for three games after being cited for a dangerous tackle against South Africa.

“We can’t blame anyone else,” said Ryan. “It’s a collective 14 minutes and in the first half Portugal got too many points that we gave them and we should have been more clinical in the right places.

“We were in the Bowl in the last tournament, we’re in the Bowl again here; we’ve got our captain on a three-game ban and one of our best players [Tom Mitchell] in hospital with a broken leg also from the second game.

“Now we’ve got to show a bit of resilience and spirit. None of us wants to be in the Bowl. We need to get momentum and show we’ve got a bit of character. It’s about playing well, getting three wins and then packing up, getting on the plane to [leg three in] Port Elizabeth and making sure we improve and learn.”

“Portugal are a pretty decent side. They’ve just knocked over the No.3 and No.4 sides in the world from last year. The best teams still win titles but surprises happen on a daily basis and we’ve just been subject to one of those.”

Earlier, tries from Mitchell, Tom Powell and Norton sealed a 19-17 victory against the Samoans.

England had looked equally confident going forward against South Africa with Powell and Norton scoring well-taken tries, but they lost two players – Marcus Watson and Vickerman – to the sin bin and missed a key chance when trailing 12-10 in the second half.

ENGLAND restored their dented pride with two big wins on day two of the Dubai Sevens.

Leading try scorer Dan Norton grabbed a hat-trick in the 40-12 destruction of Australia and Marcus Watson struck twice as they beat Spain 26-5 in the final of the Bowl competition.

It eased some of the pain of their Pool C exit at the hands of Portugal, who also knocked out South Africa on day one. Samoa - England's only day one victims - won the Dubai title by beating New Zealand 26-15 in the final.

England added another casualty to their long injury list overnight with confirmation of centre Tom Mitchell’s broken right fibula.

Half back Sam Edgerley and hooker Mark Odejobi will join the squad as cover as they head for next weekend’s South Africa Sevens at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth.

“I’m pleased with the Australia result – it’s the first time we’ve beaten them by 40 points, I think – and it was good to beat Spain after going out against them in the last tournament,” said England Head Coach Ben Ryan.

“We’re stretched. It happens. Almost 40 per cent of our squad injured and that accelerates the learning of everyone else. You can look at it as a glass half full. They started to front up in the last couple of games.”

England went down 24-14 in the day two opener to Argentina, again conceding early tries to Facundo Garrido and Ramiro Moyano. Marcus Watson and James Rodwell responded but Matias Moroni’s clincher condemned England to the bottom tier Shield competition.

They responded in dramatic style against Australia, another side in the bottom tier which indicates how competitive the HSBC Sevens World Series has become.

Norton’s stunning hat-trick was backed up by two Watson strikes and a further score for hooker Jeff Williams. Dan Bibby’s five conversions completed the job.

Spain had put England out of the quarter finals in leg one of the series in the Gold Coast and they got some revenge with another fluent attacking display in the final.

Pedro Martin got the opening try but England twice worked openings for Watson to break tackles and burst up the middle to score.

Spain were squeezed back for long spells in the second half and Tom Powell and John Brake added further tries in the closing moments.

England’s slow start to the season hasn’t knocked Ryan’s faith in his young players.

“These are players you can do something with. I’m not looking at them and going ‘they’re not good enough’. I can see there’s talent there.

“It’s not the finished article and we we need to win and I understand that but if you’re buffeted around with injuries and everything else then these kids get thrown in and they did pretty well. I said to them today that when we start winning I think we’ll keep winning and let’s hope this is the start of a fresh page in this year’s series.”