Australian Sevens Team for London and Scotland tournaments
Monday, 19 May 2008 From the ARU
Australian Sevens Team for London and Scotland
Five Super 14 players highlight the Australian squad for the final two legs of the iRB Sevens World Series in London and Scotland the ARU announced today.
Dual international Andrew Walker has again been selected after appearing in the Hong Kong and Adelaide tournaments earlier this year, while fellow Queensland Reds outside backs Caleb Brown and Scott Higginbotham will again don the gold jersey in Britain .
Western Force flanker Matt Hodgson has been called up and will make his first Sevens start since Paris in 2005 while Brumbies winger Afusipa Taumoepeau will make his debut at Twickenham.
Five other players from coach Bill Millard’s squad for the Adelaide Sevens have been retained including Warringah trio - Willie Bishop, Peter Owens and Ross Duncan - and Sevens veterans Shawn Mackay and Damon Murphy.
Coach Millard said the Australian team was looking to finish the season strongly and their preparation for the season ending tournaments had received a boost from an unlikely source.
“We want to finish with some strong momentum which will help us in the lead up to next season,” Millard said.
“England’s Ben Gollings (now living in Brisbane) joined us in assembly and having the highest points scorer in World Sevens history and arguably the best Sevens player in the world was a great opportunity for all the squad to learn what it takes to reach the top in Sevens,” Millard said.
“We also had Codey Budgeon and Brenton Cochrane – who have been identified and developed through the Lloyd McDermott Program – join us and both boys performed well and may be prospects for the future.”
The Aussies have been drawn with Fiji , Canada and Portugal in Pool C for the London Sevens beginning Saturday.
Australian Sevens Team for London and Scotland tournaments:
Shawn Mackay (c), William Bishop, Caleb Brown, Ross Duncan, Scott Higginbotham, Matthew Hodgson, Damon Murphy, Peter Owens, Afusipa Taumoepeau, Andrew Walker, Tim Walsh, Andrew Wiles.
Coach – Bill Millard
Manager – Andrew Logan
Physiotherapist – Keiran Cleary
Trainer – Scott Wilson
