England Sevens Coach Ben Ryan is already planning for next season's IRB Sevens World Series and the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi after his Sevens squad produced a successful campaign in 2008/09, which saw them finish 3rd in the series behind Fiji and winners South Africa.
Since England finished their recent campaign in Scotland on May 30/31 Ryan has had time to reflect on a number of season highlights, which saw his Sevens squad win two finals and appear in two others.
In the 2008/09 season England doubled their points total (98) from the previous season and beat New Zealand four times including the last three in a row, something no other England team has achieved.
Ollie Philips was named the IRB World Sevens Player of the Year, Ben Gollings (pictured) passed the 2,000 point mark and England enjoyed a leg final win in Wellington time for the first time with another victory at Twickenham in the Emirates Airline London Sevens in the penultimate leg of the IRB Sevens World Series.
Ryan highlighted the successful re-assessment of Sevens under Elite Rugby Director Rob Andrew as a key factor behind the success of his squad in 2008/09.
Ryan said "Sevens players now sit between the England U20 and the Saxons squads and it's an extremely important part of the Elite player pathway.
"When England played Argentina at Old Trafford a few weeks ago all of the England backs except Andy Goode had played Sevens for England and Tom Croft, Joe Worsley and Ugo Monye are with the British and Irish Lions, all of whom I'm sure would say that Sevens had helped their development as players.
"No one would suggest that Sevens is the only reason why these players have reached senior international status but it proves that Sevens is an integral part of the Elite player pathway and an essential part of players reaching their potential."
One of the obvious highlights for Ryan was England winning in Wellington for the first time; "It was a brilliant weekend for us. The second day got better and better and after beating Fiji in the quarters we then defeated Kenya in the semi's who had beaten South Africa the day before.
"In the final we were 17-0 down to New Zealand and it was here where we saw an example of Sevens being the perfect development tool. Decisions under pressure had to be made, we worked to our limits and the players executed their skills when it mattered most, all away from home, jet lagged and with the crowd understandably fully behind the home team.
"To come back from that deficit and win that final was a great achievement. Although we have a good recent record against New Zealand they have proved time and time again that they will always comes back stronger and I'm sure they will do that next season.
"Our selection has evolved in the last 12 months and last season 21 players represented the Sevens squad, half the number from the previous year and this has helped not only our consistency of selection but performance as well. I'd like to thank the Guinness Premiership clubs for their support throughout the season.
"It's also been good to see players like Matt Banahan (Bath Rugby) make their senior England debut in the summer. Two years ago Matt played Sevens for England before he was a regular for Bath in the Guinness Premiership and he then went on to the Saxons and then the senior side. It's this pathway that is helping so many players a number of whom, like Matt are playing for England Sevens before making their presence felt in the Premiership and that is benefitting both club and country.
"One thing we will be targeting next season is back to back tournament success. The legs tend to be played in pairs and although we won in Wellington and reached the final in San Diego the week before we didn't win the latter and if we get that opportunity again our aim has to be to close out both games but as ever it will be a huge challenge as all the teams competing in the IRB Sevens World Series get stronger every year.
"Although I can't reveal any specific details we've already identified around twenty things we can improve on for next season including bespoke warm ups for players, which are all linked into the research work carried out by the Elite Rugby Department.
"Finally we will also be looking at ways we can give further help to get bigger crowds at Twickenham when we play in the Emirates Airline London Sevens in May 2010. Last year was great with over 60,000 fans in the stadium over the two days and we want to increase those numbers next year so it becomes firmly established as one of the top three legs in the series."
Elite Rugby Director Rob Andrew MBE said "Ben and his squad have had an excellent year and the facts and stats speak for themselves. The Saxons and the Senior squad are reaping the benefits of the time that players on the Elite pathway are spending in Sevens and I share Ben's aim of further improvement in 2009/10."
