England Premiership Sevens Pool B Preview
The second pool of the Aviva Premier League Summer Sevens will get underway this weekend in Leicester, England. The Leicester Tigers, Leeds Carnegie, Newcastle Falcons, and the Sale Sharks will go head-to-head in order to determine two of the spots at the August 6th final in Bath.
Premiership Sevens
For the first time ever, English Premiership Rugby has introduced a sevens tournament that will be played throughout the month of July, with the final taking place in the first week in August.
The 12 teams in the premiership have been divided up into three pools, and will each participate in a short tournament. The four teams will play one another once, and the teams with the two best records will advance to the final in Bath. Once the top six teams have been decided, they will play a similar round robin in Bath with the top four advancing to the knock out stages.
Pool A consists of the Harlequins, Saracens, London Irish, and London Wasps. Group B consists of the Tigers, Carnegie, Falcons, and Sharks. While group C houses the Saints, Bath Rugby, the Chiefs and Gloucester Rugby. Pool A was completed last week, pool B is set to go this weekend, and pool C will play the following weekend on the 30th of July.
The event is meant to give teams an opportunity to scout and showcase their young talent for the season starting in September. The tournament also provides teams with an opportunity to work out final roster spots and evaluate recently signed veterans.
Last Week
In the first tournament of the summer, the Saracens topped pool A, controlling the completion by winning every one of their matches handily, and finishing up with 13 points. The Harlequins were second best, losing only to the Saracens and finishing with nine points. The London Wasps just missed out on a spot in the finals with five points, while the London Irish had a dismal tournament, not recording a single point and finishing last.
Preview
Leicester Tigers
The Tigers have made it clear that they will be giving their youngsters the start on Friday, under the assumption that half of their team will be made up of academy players next year. This a perfect opportunity for the rookies to get in some playing time before a difficult season begins in September.
The home team’s Director of Rugby had this to say of the club’s selections for the weekend: “Half of our first team squad have come through the academy and there will be guys playing on Friday who will emerge and come through to the first team… We have some quality young guys here. We want to put them on show and see what they can do.”
Leeds Carnegie
The Leeds squad has taken a similar approach to the tournament, giving all the spots to their youngsters and academy members. Leeds is committed to keeping their tournament line-up young, and the Academy head coach will be given the honour of selecting the majority of the side.
The academy coach had this to say of the experience his youngsters will get this weekend: “Playing at Welford road on Friday night under the floodlights will be special and something to savour for these guys. I know them very well, not just from their time at Leeds, but the majority of them played at Otley last season. They are a talented bunch and I am excited about Friday night’s action.”
Newcastle Falcons
The Falcons have elected to go with a mix of youngsters and sevens experience. The main threat for Newcastle will be former sevens international Charlie Amesbury, who will be playing on the wing this weekend. In addition, they have elected to go with Scotland’s under-20 standout Michael Tait, perhaps making the Falcons the team to beat in pool B.
Sale Sharks
The Sharks are in the same corner as both the Tigers and Carnegie, selecting the majority of their team from their academy, hoping the youngsters will improve heading into next season.
Tags: