9:48am Monday 19th July 2010
Harlequins’ back Miles Mantella is the only uncapped player in England’s initial 17-man training squad preparing to take part in the Rugby Sevens at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.
The 18-year-old back, who led Millfield to National Schools Sevens titles in 2009 and 2010, will take part in an intensive 12-week training programme at the National Sports Centre at Bisham Abbey and the Lensbury Club in Teddington.
Head coach Ben Ryan said: “I’m very pleased with this initial training squad and we’ll also look at more players during the build-up before we nominate our team.
“We’ve got experience, we’ve got youth and we have the expertise of taking part in big competitions.
“It gives us the backbone you need to bring through some exciting young players.”
A second Quins player, Ollie Lindsay-Hague, is recovering from injury but will join the training group when he is fit.
Commonwealth Games Training Group: Greg Barden (Royal Navy), Kevin Barrett (Saracens), John Brake, Dan Caprice, Alex Cheesman (Oxford University), Chris Cracknell, Isoa Damudamu (British Army), Ben Gollings, Simon Hunt (Birmingham and Solihull), Ollie Lindsay-Hague (Harlequins), Miles Mantella (Harlequins), Dan Norton (Bristol Rugby), Tom Powell, James Rodwell, Nick Royle, Mathew Turner, Christian Wade (London Wasps)
Commonwealth Games Rugby Sevens, October 11-12
Pool A: New Zealand, Scotland, Canada, Guyana
Pool B: South Africa, Wales, Tonga, India
Pool C: Samoa, Kenya, Uganda, Papua New Guinea
Pool D: England, Australia, Namibia, Sri Lanka
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