IRB Audio: Captain Johnathan Edwards looks ahead at the tournament
The Wales Sevens squad will be the first set of players to have the chance to impress the New Zealander when he stops off at the first IRB Sevens World Series tournament of the season en route to Wales this weekend.
Dafydd Hewitt has been replaced in the Wales squad by Newport’s Nick Wakely following the knee injury to Hewitt’s Blues team mate Rhys Williams at the weekend.
Despite this, Wales Sevens head coach Dai Rees is confident about Wales’s chances at the Dubai and George Sevens over the next two weekends, with hopes of reaching at least the Cup quarter-finals at both events.
“These are our first two tournaments as core members of the IRB Sevens World Series and we want to prove we deserve our place,” said Rees.
“We have one of our most experienced squads to date since our return to the circuit and it’s important to get a good start.
“We are disappointed to lose Daf as he was a prominent figure in our progress to the Cup semi-finals at London and Edinburgh last season, but we fully understand the region’s situation and Nick Wakely has previous international sevens experience as he represented Wales as a 19-year-old the last time we were on the world circuit.
“We have a tough group with Samoa, who were third in the world last season, Kenya, who reached the Cup semis at the Adelaide tournament, and the USA in our pool at Dubai.
“It is most certainly no walk in the park but we do play Samoa last on Day One which will, hopefully, give us the chance to build momentum throughout the day. If we can get two wins under our belt before that game, we will be through to the quarters but a win over Samoa would give us top seeding from the Pool.”
Wales Sevens Squad: Johnathan Edwards (Scarlets, Captain), Richie Pugh (Unattached), James Merriman (Neath), Nick Wakeley (Newport), James Harris (Dragons), Lee Williams (Scarlets), Martin Roberts (Ospreys), Gareth Owen (Ospreys), Rob McCusker (Scarlets), Gareth Chapman (Dragons), Aled Brew (Ospreys), James Lewis (Ebbw Vale).
IRB Sevens World Series
Dubai – 29 November-1 December
POOL A: New Zealand, France, Scotland, Arabian Gulf
POOL B: Fiji, Australia, Argentina, Zimbabwe
POOL C: Samoa, Wales, Kenya, USA
POOL D: South Africa, England, Canada, Tunisia
George (South Africa)Â – 7-8 December
POOL A: New Zealand, England, Kenya, Zimbabwe
POOL B: Fiji, France, Canada, USA
POOL C: South Africa, Wales, Argentina, Uganda
POOL D: Samoa, Australia, Scotland, Tunisia
