Great Britain Sevens Women’s stars back in 15-a-side action

A fortnight on from HSBC SVNS’ stop in Cape Town a number of the Great Britain Sevens Women’s stars are getting back to grips with XVs.

Great Britain’s women, who saw 11 players debut in Dubai and Cape Town, finished last in each of the first two tournaments of the season. At the end of last season the Great Britain programme was reimagined and is now operated by Scottish Rugby.

While the men’s set-up has six full-time players, the women’s side operates largely out of England and Wales, with players nominated for selection by their home unions.

Player development is at the heart of everything this latest iteration of the Great Britain set-up aims to do.

It is little surprise that many of the players utilised by head coach Jonathan Hooper were age grade internationals on the lookout for senior playing experience in the cut and thrust of HSBC SVNS competition.

Almost a fortnight on from their exploits in Cape Town, a trio of Wales age grade internationals are hoping to take part in the first round of the new Celtic Challenge season.

Both wing Nia Fajeyisan and playmaker Courtney Greenway hope to be a part of Gwalia Lightning’s clash with Irish side, Clovers, at Energia Park on Saturday morning.

Hanna Marshall, who has already impressed for Wales U20 and Hartpury University in Women’s BUCS Super Rugby, and Brython Thunder host Glasgow Warriors at Llanelli’s Parc y Scarlets.

Meanwhile six players have been selected by LJ Lewis for a three-day training camp for England Under-21 Women.

The first squad selected since the restructuring of the England U20 programme, which now allows up to five U23 players to be selected. Changes were introduced to enable a longer opportunity to support the development of U18 graduates as they enter adult rugby.

It is a squad that boasts a total of 18 players that had previously represented the U20s.

Fresh-faced from their efforts in HSBC SVNS, Ashton Adcock (Loughborough Lightning), Joia Bennett (Saracens), Abigail Pritchard (Gloucester Hartpury), Eva Wood (Sale Sharks), Solana Shaw de Leon (Harlequins) and Ellen Scantlebury (Loughborough Lightning) have all been named in the squad taking part in a three-day training camp.

LJ Lewis, England U21 Women head coach, said: “Within this framework, we’re aiming to play at speed with world-class skills to attack best space, maintain a ruthless mentality to get the ball back in defence and form a solid basis for a dominant set-piece.

“We strive to continue to develop players’ physicality by creating as many winning moments as possible, with or without the ball, underpinned by the players’ athletic ability to consistently showcasing the game of the future.”

Celtic Challenge

Brython Thunder: Hanna Marshall
Gwalia Lightning: Nia Fajeyisan, Courtney Greenway

England U21 Women camp squad

Ashton Adcock, Joia Bennett, Abigail Pritchard, Eva Wood, Solana Shaw de Leon, Ellen Scantlebury