DRAGONS DUO FOR SEVENS

By Charlotte Moriarty | 27/06/2012

Dragons duo Hallam Amos and James Benjamin will be lining up for Wales this weekend as they look to replicate their recent success in Lyon when taking part in the FIRA AER European Grand Prix series i

Dragons duo Hallam Amos and James Benjamin will be lining up for Wales this weekend as they look to replicate their recent success in Lyon when taking part in the FIRA AER European Grand Prix series in Moscow.

Newport’s Ifan Evans and Craig Attwel have also been named in the squad

Following the positive experience in Lyon, the squad are looking forward to maintaining our standards and improving on our final position of 4th in the opening tournament

The young Welsh Sevens side produced their best ever result in France when reaching the play-off for third and fourth place in the opening round. In a closely fought encounter Spain edged home with a 17-14 victory to pip Wales at the post.

Looking back on the French leg, Wales Sevens assistant coach Gareth Williams, said: "It was pleasing to reach a semi-final in France. The boys competed well in the latter stage matches. We gained our highest finish at any FIRA tournament in the last two years and it was also a good exercise in exposing a large amount of new players to international level sevens.

"Following the positive experience in Lyon, the squad are looking forward to maintaining our standards and improving on our final position of 4th in the opening tournament. We've brought in five new players who are given opportunities, as the ethos of our FIRA program is to unearth potential World Series players for the upcoming season."

Wales find themselves in a difficult pool, with defending champions England firm favourites to progress.

"As always, we will be challenging but our focus is firmly on starting well against a very accomplished Georgian team on Saturday morning," explained Williams.

"England, the series leaders, will be favourites to win the group and we have been working to eradicate vital areas that cost us against them in the Lyon semi-final. Russia will also be keen to impress on home soil, and avenge the draw we played out in Lyon to prevent them from progressing from our group into the Cup competition.

"Ukraine and the Netherlands complete our fixtures and these two teams showed in Lyon they have the capability to turn any side over at any time. The challenge has been plainly set out to our boys, and there is also the carrot that 12 months from now, the Sevens World Cup will be held in Moscow. Events here could be the start of an exciting road towards that competition for any individual involved."

Wales Sevens FIRA side:

James Davies (Carmarthen Quins)

Ifan Evans (Core Sevens and Newport)

Craig Attwel (Newport)

Jason Harris (Carmarthen Quins)

James Benjamin (Dragons Academy)

Tom Grabham (Captain) - Ospreys)

Will Thomas (Core Sevens)

Luke Treharne (Exeter University)

Luke Williams (Unattached)

Owen Jenkins (Blues Academy)

Tom Williams (Blues)

Hallam Amos (Dragons Academy)

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