European Sevens 2011: England draw the champions?

More news about the the 2011 European Sevens has emerged. Apparently this awaits some final confirmation, but it seems the plan is that the main division will be 12 nations - the "Top 12" - which will still be a single event this year, and will be played alongside the men's tournament which is likely to be in Bucharest on July 16/17.

The seeding is interesting, confirming as it does the non-entry of Scotland and Ireland, which also presumably means that they will also not be entering the 2013 Sevens World Cup (and so not the Olympics as well?).

Anyway - FIRA's ranking for 2011 looks like this...

01.Spain
02.Netherlands
03.France
04.Italy
05.England
06.Russia
07.Portugal
08.Germany
09.Sweden
10.Moldova
11.Finland
12.Wales

Giving us the following pools...

Group A:
1. Spain
2. Italy
3. England
4. Germany
5. Sweden
6. Wales

and B:
1. Netherlands
2. France
3. Russia
4. Portugal
5. Moldova
6. Finland

Group A looks very tasty indeed... England, champions Spain, Wales (whose record against England at sevens is pretty good, if short), Italy (much more dangerous in this format), plus Sweden and Germany (Sweden v Germany always has a certain something!). Group B... rather more predictable.

This news will also give Ukraine their deserved place in Division 2, which will presumably look something like...
Switzerland; Belgium; Romania; Latvia; Andorra; Czech Republic; Austria; Croatia; Bulgaria; Israel; Ukraine and Malta

And a Division 3...
Hungary; Norway; Poland; Georgia; Lithuania; Denmark; Luxembourg; Bosnia Herzegovina; Slovenia and Serbia

None of this is officially official yet, but its pretty close.

And maybe FIRA could have a word with US Rugby and Wendy Young at YSC and get the tournament streamed. That would be good...