British Universities & Colleges Sport is pleased to announce the selection of the Great Britain men's & women’s Rugby Sevens Teams who will compete at the World University Championships in Brive, France, next month.

The World University Championships represent a unique opportunity for a combined England, Scotland & Wales team to compete as Great Britain in an international sevens competition before Rugby sevens makes its reintroduction as an Olympic sport in Rio 2016 after a 90 year absence.

The men’s Great Britain side, coached by Russell Earnshaw, the current England assistant coach and an RFU National Academy coach, and assisted by Wales’s Richard Hodges and Adrian Evans, has considerable international experience and includes Tom Mitchell, Sam Edgerley and Dan Bibby who represented England in the HSBC Sevens World Series earlier this year. Mitchell (pictured left) was also part of the Great Britain side that finished third behind Portugal and Russia at the previous World University Championships two years ago and coach Earnshaw believes this year’s squad is capable of improving on this “We want to do well in Brive and we’ve put together a strong side with that goal in mind”.

The GBR’s women’s team management team is made up of personnel from all three Home Unions. Head Coach Susie Appleby, who coached the England Sevens squad who recently won the Hong Kong Sevens and won 63 caps herself for England, is assisted by Scott Forest a previous captain of the Scotland Sevens team. The team will be managed by Sophie Bennett Wales’s team manager since 2010.

After the announcement of the squad Sophie Bennett spoke of her excitement at the unique opportunity to work with players from all three Home Unions,

“This is a fantastic and unique opportunity for all the players to experience playing within the GB environment ahead of the impending Olympics as it is the only time the Home Unions play together in Women's Rugby. It’s also a great development tool for the Home Unions to use a different way of giving their players international experience that they can then bring back to their respective Unions.

“We are lucky to have secured the release of a number of full international players from the three home unions, who are relishing the challenge and opportunity to test themselves against the best in the world. We are really looking forward to assembling the squad and completing the final preparation before leaving for Brive".

The women will be looking to improve on a seventh place finish two years ago, by building on the international success the players have had for their Home Unions.

For more information on the World University Championships click here.

Great Britain Men’s Team

David Smith - Newcastle
Samuel Shires - Newcastle
Tomos Treharne - Exeter University
Samuel Edgerley - University College London 
Edward Mama - Loughborough
Daniel Bibby - UWIC
Joseph Atkinson - Loughborough
Thomas Mitchell - Oxford
Christopher Banfield - UWIC
Jake Henry - UWIC
Owen Jenkins - UWIC
Samuel Cross - UWIC

Great Britain Women’s Team

Kate Hancock - University of Plymouth
Isabelle Noel-Smith - Bath University
Sarah Mckenna - University of Bedfordshire
Charlotte Keane - University of the West of England - Hartpury College
Katie Mason - University of Bath
Emily Scott - Brunel University
Emily Scarratt - Leeds Metropolitan University
Victoria Fleetwood - Leeds Metropolitan University
Stephanie Johnston - Glasgow University
Sally Tuson - Cardiff University
Sarah Dixon - University of Stirling
Charlotte Murray - Swansea Metropolitan University