The Qantas Australian Women’s Sevens team has been named for the opening round of the 2019-2020 HSBC Sevens World Series in Colorado USA.
In the first round of the newly expanded HSBC Women’s Sevens World Series that now moves to eight rounds (replacing the previous six), Australia will be looking to establish a winning formula in the opening American leg.
The Aussie 7s will meet Spain, Fiji and Canada in a tough Pool C with the first match kicking off on Sunday 6 October against the Spanish.
In the squad sees the return of Cassie Staples into the squad following on from a strong pre-season and performances in the opening round of the Aon University Sevens Series along with debutant Madison Ashby.
Qantas Australian Women’s Sevens Head Coach John Manenti said: “There is some real excitement amongst the group to get back out to playing International Rugby after a really strong pre-season period.
“This year is a massive year for the Women’s game; we have the expanded Series as well as the Olympics in Japan and this is going to be a great challenge for the game.
“I know we are really looking forward to the next year and to putting in the hard work together for each other.
“Canada, Spain and Fiji present three different styles of Rugby for us to deal with, so we will have to be adaptive.
“Maddison’s (Ashby) moment to earn her first International cap has been a long time coming. She’s bee one of the finds of our pathway and has played well for the Aussie Youth Girls and in the Aon University Sevens Series. She’s raring to go for her first cap and I know she’ll be ready.”
All matches from day one will be streamed LIVE on World Rugby’s Facebook.
1.Shannon Parry, University of Sydney, 25 caps
2. Sharni Williams, University of Canberra, 30 caps
3. Sariah Paki, University of Technology, Sydney, 5 caps
4. Cassandra Staples, University of Queensland, 7 caps
5. Emma Tonegato, University of Western Australia, 26 caps
6. Evania Pelite, University of Adelaide, 24 caps
7. Charlotte Caslick, Bond University, 31 caps
8. Madison Ashby*, University of Technology Sydney
9. Lauren Brown, Bond University, 4caps
10. Alicia Lucas (nee Quirk), University of New England, 29 caps
11. Rhiannon Byers, University of New England, 1 cap
12. Ellia Green, University of Melbourne, 25 caps
*denotes uncapped player
