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England Sevens' Tom Powell gives UR7s readers a behind-the-scenes insight into how preperations are going inside the camp ahead the penultimate leg of the 09/10 IRB Sevens World Series at Twickenham.

The squad hasn’t seen each other since Hong Kong which was four or five weeks ago so it has been nice to catch up with some of the boys at training over the last few weeks.

We have spent some time away from our normal camp in Teddington to a different location at RAF Aylesbury.
Training with the RAF in a different environment was a top experience and I think everyone learnt lots.

We were quickly back into the fitness side of things and a familiar thing we do is the RFU’s E Set Test, known as the ‘Up-Down’ amongst the boys.

It can be very tough! Effectively it is working maximally on a running clock. So the quicker you do it the more rest you get, but the more tired you get at the same time. We did it alongside the RAF just so they could get an understanding of our fitness levels.

Interestingly I think the best time in amongst the England 15-a-side team was 215 secs and the best here was 205 secs. We do it twice back-to-back with 2minutes in between whereas the 15s will only do it once!

We are also being tested by some guys doing a PHD on the stresses of rugby sevens. So we are having temperature, blood, and saliva taken and jump testing to see how are bodies were coping.

It will be good to get the feedback on this from the last few weeks to see how we can cope better and importantly recover quicker. This is really important in sevens.

Manu the steam train!

There are a lot of characters in the camp, especially some of the younger boys like Ollie Lindsay-Hague and Christian Wade who like to pipe up! Out of training, Matt Turner and I are regularly going for coffees, although Ollie isn’t old enough to drink the stuff yet, which gets him some stick. Nills Mordt has also joined us and is another character.

There is always a good feeling in the squad as is the case in the best teams.

We played at the London Floodlit Sevens on Thursday evening and it was really fun occasion. It bought up a different challenge to what you might get compared to Hong Kong, as there are a number of games in a short space of time leaving little time to recover.

We had forty minutes between the semi-finals and the final so once you have put your feet up and got some fluids in, you basically have to go again.

It was great to see Saracens, Wasps, and Harlequins putting in strong teams. Sarries included the likes of Justin Marshall and Noah Cato, so we were happy to beat them to the overall title. From our point of view it was exciting to see newcomers such as Manu Tuilagi perform well for us.

He showed everyone what we knew he could do anyway and he has transferred that onto the Sevens stage, showing superb power. Not bad for an 18 year old!

It was obviously a more low-key event but there was a good atmosphere and it was fun to play with some guys I hadn’t played with much before.

Emirates Airline London Sevens nearing

We are due at Bury St Edmunds on Sunday which will give us another run out together. We have a pretty strong side so hopefully the weather will be kind and we can play some decent stuff.

It is another step in the lead up to the London Sevens. No matter how much fun you have with the guys off the pitch as soon as training starts we are switched on and we know we are there to do a job and be professional.

The coaches are very good at keeping a good mix of enjoyment into proceedings but making us work hard and getting things we need doing done. 

With the next legs of the IRB Series approaching the intensity will start stepping up I’m sure. We are in camp next week and then squad will eventually be revealed.

After that it will be a real focus towards that first game at Twickenham on Saturday 22nd May!

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Watch England Sevens in action on May 22 & 23 at the Emirates Airline London Sevens, their only home tournament on the IRB Sevens World Series. Tickets are available from www.rfu.com/tickets