2018 English Premiership 7s

Can Saracens Sweep 2018 Premiership Trophies?

Can Saracens Sweep 2018 Premiership Trophies?

The Saracens will have to get past the Newcastle Falcons in pool b, last year’s Premiership 7s finalist.

Jul 26, 2018 by Austin Willis
Whiteley Punishes Error: 2017 Premiership 7s

The Saracens won the Premiership in May, but sevens is a whole different game. The Saracens will have to get past the 2017 Premiership 7s finalist Newcastle Falcons in Group B, but if they do, they could lay claim to both major league trophies at the same time.

Watch the Premiership 7s LIVE on FloRugby

 Friday, July 27 - Saturday, July 28

The Premiership 7s features all 12 of the English Premiership teams in four pools of three. The teams play pool matches on Friday - kickoff is 11:30AM Central Time, 12:30PM Eastern Time.

"We've come up with a schedule that is really appealing to fans," said Premiership Rugby’s Dominic Hayes. "You won't have to wait around a long time to see your team, if you're supporting one club."

Fans watching at home will also be able to spend the afternoon with the Premiership 7s, do something else the rest of the evening, and then come back for the action Saturday morning - kickoff is 9:30AM ET on Saturday for the knockout rounds, which finishes just before 1PM.

The Premiership 7s are a proving ground for up-and-comers in the English professional club ranks. The rosters have a mix of returning players and fresh faces.

Falcons Feed Of Finals Losses

The Falcons squad will once again be under the guidance of first-team skills coach and academy manager Mark Laycock, 

Newcastle made it to the final of last year’s Premiership 7s but lost to the Wasps. This year the Falcons bring back six of their 12 rostered players as well as their Academy coach Mark Laycock, who said: “We’ve put together an exciting group of players for the Premiership Rugby 7s and we will be a challenge for any side.”

“A number of this group helped us to the final of the World Club 10s in Mauritius where we only lost narrowly to South African Super Rugby side the Bulls in the final, and we have a lot of pace allied to our work rate and creativity,” said Laycock.

Newcastle Falcons squad for Premiership  7s

1 Glen Young 

2 Connor Collett 

3 Simon Uzokwe 

4 Will Montgomery 

5 Tom Marshall 

6 Joel Matavesi 

7 Cameron Nordii-Kelemeti 

8 Ben Stevenson 

9 James Elliott 

10 George Wacokecoke 

11 Zach Kibirige 

12  Adam Radwan

Fitness Key For Fifteens Champs

The Saracens are the Premiership champs this year but this is sevens. The Saracens only return three players from last year’s competition, so they will rely heavily on academy players. Saracens 7s captain Joel Conlon on the academy players’ fitness:

“They are fit as fiddles and they want to go out there and show their stuff, so I guess it’s a good indication of that as well so we’ll be looking at that to see what they are made of fitness-wise,” said Conlon.

“Also, you never really test someone unless they are on the field in terms of mentality, there’s no greater test than a sevens game as it’s so tiring, having played it myself.”

Saracens squad for Premiership 7s 

1 Joel Conlon ©

2 Matt Gallagher

3 Tom Griffiths

4 Sean Reffell

5 Nick Tompkins

6 Reuben Bird-Tulloch

7 Rotimi Segun

8 Dominic Morris

9 Manu Vunipola

10 Oliver Morris

11 Ratu Naulago

12 Miteli Vulikijapani

The Leicester Chemistry Experiment

Leicester returns none of their starters from last year’s Premiership 7s. While Leicester won’t be a favorite to win, the Tigers will be a fun experiment to watch how chemistry affects the quality of play.

The Tigers also have Jonah Holmes, who scored 10 tries in 11 matches this Premiership season.

Leicester Tigers squad for Premiership 7s

1 Henri Lavin

2 Tommy Reffell

3 Thom Smith

4 Taylor Gough

5 Harry Simmons

6 Fionn Higgins

7 Charlie Thacker

8 Mike Adlard

9 Sam Aspland-Robinson

10 Jonah Holmes

11 George Worth

12 Phil Woodhead