Erinle return for Euro Sevens leaders England

Monday, 11 July 2011 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Ayoola Erinle will be back in an England shirt for the first time in two years for the third stage of the FIRA European Grand Prix Sevens Series.

Capped at senior level against Australia and New Zealand in November 2009, Erinle is one of five changes to Ben Ryan’s squad for the Barcelona tournament on July 9-10, the penultimate round in the Series.

He is recalled alongside Chris Brightwell and Andrew Higgins as well as HSBC Sevens World Series regulars Dan Norton and Simon Hunt.

“We’ve made five changes to the Moscow squad and that’s in line with our policy for the series to widen our net and get more players involved,” Ryan said.

“A couple of old hands are back in to break down their games and will have supporting roles so Dan Norton, for example, will back up Nick Royle. Ayoola Erinle is a free agent and he’s weighing up his options at the moment. He’s got pedigree and he’s potentially a real asset.

“We’re looking at players in different positions and different roles and it’s been good so far. From a coaching point of view this series has been a great test bed to try things out.

“In terms of experience, it’s great and it means that we can look at guys who can get up to 28 games under their belts rather than have someone going straight in to make their debut in the World Series.

“We still have at least half-a-dozen of contracted world series regulars that will rejoin the rest of the squad for pre-season in August. Competition for places will be tough.”

England face Romania, Georgia, Italy and France on Saturday with a final pool match against the Netherlands and the knock-out stages the following day.

They currently top the European Grand Prix table after wins in Lyon and Moscow, with Spain in second place and Portugal in third.