England Women announce 7s squad for 2017/18 season
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England Women have awarded 17 contracts to support the women’s sevens programme for the upcoming 2017/18 season.
All 17 contracts will be full-time and fixed term, running until the end of the 2017/18 season.
Eight of the wider 14-player Team GB Olympic squad are named in the EPS including, England Women vice-captain and Team GB captain Emily Scarratt alongside fellow Olympians Abbie Brown, Heather Fisher and Claire Allan. Women's Rugby World Cup finalists and Olympic squad members, Natasha Hunt, Emily Scott, Amy Wilson Hardy and Megan Jones are also named.
Existing England Sevens players Chantelle Miell, Deborah Fleming, Holly Aitchison, Katie Mason and Millie Wood have also been awarded full-time sevens contracts. While England Sevens veterans Fran Matthews and Natasha Brennan have both retired from international sevens.
Women's Rugby World Cup finalists Vicky Fleetwood, Alex Matthews and Lydia Thompson, alongside Six Nations Grand Slam winner Sarah McKenna are also named as part of the sevens squad for next year.
The England Women Sevens 17/18 season will consist of a number of major global tournaments, starting with the HSBC Women’s Sevens World Series where England will compete across five stages worldwide, followed by the 2018 Commonwealth Games which is set to take place on the Gold Coast in April.
England Women full-time sevens contracts - 17
Abbie Brown
Alex Matthews
Amy Wilson Hardy
Claire Allan
Chantelle Miell
Deborah Fleming
Emily Scarratt
Emily Scott
Heather Fisher
Holly Aitchison
Katie Mason
Lydia Thompson
Megan Jones
Millie Wood
Natasha Hunt
Sarah McKenna
Vicky Fleetwood