England Women’s Rugby 7s Pool Draw - London 2013

England Women Sevens return to Twickenham

The pool draw for the Marriott London Sevens featuring a Women’s International Invitational Tournament at Twickenham Stadium on May 11-12 has been announced.

Hosts England, World Champions Australia, France, Spain, the USA, Canada, Russia and Ireland will all compete for glory at Twickenham Stadium with the tournament sharing the stage alongside the final round of the men’s HSBC World Sevens Series.

England have been draw against Australia, France and Spain in a tough Pool F while Canada, Russia, the USA and Ireland are drawn in Pool G.

The pool matches and quarter-finals will take place on Twickenham’s Cardinal Vaughan pitches and the semi-finals and finals will be played in Twickenham Stadium. With the RFU expecting a record-breaking 110,000 people passing through the turnstiles over the weekend, the stage is certainly set for an action-packed weekend of international men and women’s Sevens rugby.  

England Women’s Sevens Head Coach Barry Maddocks said: “It’s going to be great coming back to Twickenham and playing in front of our home crowd and also playing in front of thousands of people. This will be ideal preparation for the Rugby World Cup later this year.

“We are really excited about this tournament which will unquestionably be very competitive. Every team competing will also be at the Rugby World Cup  in June so this really is a world class tournament.”

England Women return to Twickenham on the back of a solid 2012/13 season. They are second in the World Series with just one round remaining (May 18-19, Amsterdam) and are just eight points adrift of table toppers New Zealand.  They are the top ranked side for the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Moscow in June and last time they played at Twickenham they lifted the IRB Challenge Cup trophy, beating the Netherlands 34-7 in the final.

Maddocks added: “This is a really important tournament for us as we build towards the World Cup and certainly each of our pool games is really going to test us, but that is exactly what we need. Rugby fans are certainly going to be exposed to some world class rugby at this weekend.”

Schedule:

May 11

10.28am England v France

10.50 am Australia v Spain  

11.12am USA v Russia

11.34am Canada v Ireland

1.30pm England v Spain

1.52pm Australia v France

2.14pm USA v Ireland

2.36pm Canada v Russia

4.44pm France v Spain

5.06pm England v Australia

5.28pm Russia v Ireland

5.50pm USA v Canada

May 12  

9am QF1 Pool F 3 v Pool G 2

9.22am QF2 Pool F 2 v Pool G 3

9.44am QF3 Pool F 1 v Pool G 4

10.06am QF4 Pool F 4 v Pool G 1

11.12am Plate SF

11.34 Plate SF

12.11 SF Winner QF1 v Winner QF2

12.33 SF Winner QF 3 v Winner QF4

1.46pm Plate Final

4.06pm Final