Stannard returns to Aussie Men's Sevens for Glasgow

Thu, Apr 24, 2014, 2:00 AM
AAP
by AAP

Qantas Australian Men’s Sevens Head Coach Michael O’Connor has named his 12-man squad that will travel to Glasgow for the penultimate leg of the 2013/14 HSBC Sevens World Series next week.

O’Connor makes one change to the squad that played in Hong Kong in March with experienced half James Stannard returning in place of the injured Alex Gibbon. Ed Jenkins will captain the side.

Tom Cusack, Lewis Holland, Allan Fa’alava’lau, Pama Fou and Shannon Walker are unavailable due to injury.

Head Coach Michael O’Connor said: “The final two legs of the IRB series gives us the chance to continue our improvement this year. We had our best result in Hong Kong in a decade and the team are fit and motivated to improve even more in Glasgow and ultimately go on to win a tournament.”

The Aussies take on hosts Scotland in the first game of the Glasgow Sevens, before taking on Spain. They round off their Pool D campaign with a clash against the United States. In a mouth-watering opening day, the top two in the World Series face off against one another in Pool A as New Zealand play South Africa.

Australian back Con Foley said: “The US are a physical team that have shown great signs of improvement during the series. They always seem to give us a tough game, as do the Scottish. Scotland will obviously have the backing of their home crowd and it should be a good game that one!

“Spain haven’t had the best of seasons but they will be looking for one more big scalp before the end of the season and we don’t want to be on the end of that.”

Australia head into the last two rounds of the 2013/14 HSBC Sevens World Series fifth in the overall standings with 87 points. New Zealand lead the series with 136 points, seven clear of the second-placed South Africa. Fiji sit in the third spot with 112 points and England fourth (104 points).

Fans can watch day two of the action live on Fox Sports 1 from 8:55pm on Sunday, 4 May.

Follow the Qantas Men's and Women's Sevens with updates on Twitter @Aussie7s

Australian Men’s Sevens fixtures in Glasgow, Scotland on 3 May:

Australia v Scotland, Pool D, 9.42pm (AEDT)

Australia v Spain, Pool D, 12.48am (AEDT)

Australia v United States, Pool D, 3.59am (AEDT)

Australian Men’s Sevens squad for the 2013 - 2014 HSBC Sevens World Series in Glasgow, Scotland:

Ed Jenkins. Club: Sydney University, NSW. Hometown: Sydney, NSW

Con Foley. Club: University of Queensland, QLD. Hometown: Fairfield, QLD

Jesse Parahi. Club: Northern Suburbs, NSW. Hometown: Avoca Beach, NSW

Sam Myers. Club: Northern Suburbs, NSW. Hometown: Grenfell, NSW

Paul Asquith. Club: Southern Districts. Hometown: Wollongong, NSW

Peter Schuster. Club: Northern Suburbs, NSW. Hometown: Sydney, NSW

Greg Jeloudev. Club: Sydney University, NSW. Hometown: Oatlands, NSW

Cameron Clark. Club: Northern Suburbs, NSW. Hometown: Sydney, NSW

James Stannard. Hometown: Brisbane, QLD

Nick Malouf. Club: Sydney University, NSW. Hometown: Robertson, QLD

Tom Lucas. Club: Sunnybank, QLD. Hometown: Upper Mount Gravatt, QLD

Afa Pakalani. Club: Southern Districts, NSW. Born: Tongatapu, Tonga

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