Barrett to captain England Sevens

Saracens have a second England Captain in their squad with the news that scrum half Kevin Barrett has been named captain of the Sevens team for the Dubai and South Africa tournaments over the next two weeks. Barrett is following in the footsteps of Steve Borthwick to lead his country. After helping his club Saracens beat World Champions South Africa, 24-23 last month, the England scrum half will take the lead from last season's IRB Sevens Player of the Year Ollie Phillips (Stade Francais). Last season Barrett also helped England to win the cup trophies at the Wellington and London legs of the IRB Sevens World Series. This Friday England will take on Russia, USA and Kenya on day one and Barrett is looking forward to leading his team to the field. "I'm really excited. Ben (Ryan) gave me the news the other day and I felt very privileged but we have lots of leaders in this team like Ben Gollings (Gold Coast), Chris Cracknell, Isoa Damudamu (British Army) and James Rodwell (Moseley RFC) so I'm hoping I can call on all of them." said Barrett. England have been training hard since arriving in Dubai last week and this season Ryan welcomes the likes of U20s speedster Christian Wade (London Wasps) to his side as well as the return of Dan Caprice (Blackheath) and Dan Norton (Bristol Rugby). Continued Barrett: "We have benefitted from coming out a bit earlier this year and today's training session was one of the best we've had since we arrived. "I've been playing sevens for a while now but to go out as captain on Friday will be a proud moment and I'm really looking forward to it." "Kev has been an integral part of the squad for the last two seasons and deserves the captaincy, he's a model professional and an outstanding player." concluded Ryan. England Sevens squad for Dubai and South Africa Source:saracens.com/