NEW England Sevens coach Simon Amor believes his newly inherited squad has the potential to claim success on the world stage.
Amor, a former England Sevens captain, left his position as London Scottish director of rugby to replace Ben Ryan who stepped down earlier this summer.
He starts with the first round of the HSBC Sevens World Series in Australia on October 12, and the 34-year-old believes his side has the ability to challenge for honours.
“My focus short, medium and long term is to drive this programme forward and look at ways we can make it better and improve the players we have currently got, who are extremely talented,” said Amor, who was speaking as the Heathrow Express rail link was announced as the lead sponsor of the national sevens teams for the next four years.
England start their season this weekend in Buchaest, Romania at the final leg of the European Grand Prix Sevens Series whilst a number of the squad are also in Kenya with the Royals competing in the Safari Sevens
“The challenge with Gold Coast just round the corner is we probably can’t make as many changes as I would have liked.
“We’ll make some mistakes in this short term but long term there is huge potential for this team to be successful on this World Series stage.”
One player keen to impress will be forward Chris Cracknell, who has been sidelined since injuring his knee in last year’s first round.
“It’s been a long 12 months with a few dark moments but I’m back fit and hopefully I can come back stronger than ever," he said.
“I’ve got a lot of things I want to do and achieve. Going to a Commonwealth Games and winning gold is massively up there. And winning a World Series is obviously another one.
“I’ve been in this game long enough now and I’m sick and tired of not winning one.”