England name Sevens squad

England skipper Amor aims to beat New Zealand on home soil

England coach Joe Lydon has named his 12-man squad for the New Zealand leg of the IRB World Sevens series.

The competition takes place on 6 and 7 February and Lydon's side are hoping to build on last December's victory in the South African leg.

"I've been delighted with the performances from the team to date," said Lydon.

"Although we have a long way to go our aim is to go one better than our second place overall finish last year."

Lydon added: "The tournament win in South Africa made amends for our semi-final defeat in Dubai and we currently share the leaderboard with New Zealand and South Africa.

"But we will face tough competition throughout the remainder of the series."

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England Sevens squad:

S Amor (Gloucester, capt), J Brooks (Northampton), P Dowson (Newcastle), B Gollings (Newcastle), R Haughton (Saracens), D Hipkiss (Leicester), M Lund (Sale), U Monye (Harlequins), N Mordt (London Irish), T Rees (Wasps), T Roques (Saracens), R Thirlby (Penzance & Newlyn).