Joe Browning has been included in the England men’s Sevens squad for the forthcoming Malaga Sevens (January 21-23).
The Leicester Tigers outside-back is yet to make a senior appearance for the club after graduating from the Tigers Academy and spent the opening half of the 2021/22 campaign on loan with Nottingham Rugby.
Drawn in Pool A, England take on Fiji, Scotland and Dubai winners South Africa in Spain where Malaga will host the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series for the first time.
The squad is formed from a mix of Premiership, university and core contracted sevens players as the England Sevens programme relaunches in 2022.
2021 Olympian and 2018 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Alex Davis is named as captain for the upcoming season while former Leicester Tigers academy player Tom Bowen is set to earn his 50th cap for England having reached the World Series milestone with GB Sevens last year.
Browning and Harlequins duo Hayden Hyde and Will Trenholm are selected for their debuts.
Ed Coulson and Will Homer have been awarded core contract status, and join fellow contracted players Jamie Adamson, Jamie Barden, Max Clementson and Freddie Roddick.
“This is a new team with a lot of young players. We’ve got 10 players making their debut in an England Sevens shirt which is an exciting opportunity for this group to perform on the World Series," said head coach Tony Roques.
“We’d like to thank wider stakeholders who have shown support and collaboration to give players the chance to show what they can do in this environment and hopefully develop them as people and players.
“The links with Premiership clubs, national league clubs and universities is a really positive step forward. These players, combined with the experience of some of the core group have formed a really exciting group in the last few weeks and come together in such a positive way in a short period of time.”
England Men 7s squad for Malaga:
Jamie Adamson*
Jamie Barden
Blake Boyland*
Tom Bowen
Joe Browning*
Max Clementson*
Ed Coulson*
Alex Davis (C)
Will Homer*
Hayden Hyde*
Calum Randle*
Freddie Roddick*
Will Trenholm*
* Denotes England Sevens World Series debut
