By Pawlo
February 9 2007

Whilst the rest of the NEC Harlequins squad and fans are facing snow showers and freezing temperatures, 20 year old winger Charlie Amesbury is enjoying the sunnier climes of San Diego in California. The young Quins player is on England Sevens duty and played last weekend in the IRB Sevens in Wellington, New Zealand. England have now flown to the USA ahead of this weekend’s IRB Sevens in San Diego.

I caught up with Charlie to find out what he has been up to…..

“We did some good and bad things on the pitch last week but overall were really disappointed to be knocked out at quarter final stage by the hosts New Zealand. We played pretty well against the kiwis but didn’t get the win. We didn’t fulfil our potential as a team and need to put that right this weekend in San Diego. I don’t think it was a case of us doing any major wrong, but more that we didn’t perform as best as we know we can. We kept the ball quite well but we didn’t do enough with it when we did have it. We have learned a lot from the tournament and are working hard to put things right this weekend.”

England are currently in fourth position in the IRB Sevens with five tournaments still remaining out of eight. Charlie says, “It is our aim to win the series so we know we have to do well to get to the top of the points table.”

England’s quarter final against New Zealand was the first time the youngster, who began his rugby with Petersfield RFC, had faced the world’s number one rugby side. He says, “The highlight of last weekend was definitely playing against the black shirts of New Zealand. As a rugby player that is one of the best experiences you can have. It was the first time I have ever played them on an international stage, and it was good to see that they aren’t as invincible as everyone thinks. We almost beat them and that was a good feeling – although next time we will go one better.”

On a personal level Charlie freely admits that he still has a lot to learn. “I didn’t play as well as I know I can but I did do some things well and attacked quite well. Also, I’m showing that I can mix it with the big teams like New Zealand and France on an international level.”

Wellington has a reputation as one of England’s toughest legs of the IRB World Sevens Series and has a particularly anti English crowd. Charlie enjoyed the experience of playing in front of over 30,000 passionate kiwis. “The crowd was nothing like I have experienced before. 80% of them were dressed up in fancy dress and they were really noisy. They were very hostile towards ourselves and Australia, but in a fun way. They are obviously passionate about wanting their own team to progress”

It was Charlie’s first visit to New Zealand and he liked what he saw of the country. “We didn’t have much time to see Wellington but walked around by the harbour which was beautiful. The weather was awesome as well with fantastic sunshine every day. Our physio Mike was always trying to ensure we stayed out of the sun and put sun tan cream on when training whilst we all wanted to get a tan!”

The squad flew to San Diego on Monday. As the third tournament of his season so far, Charlie admits he is getting used to the travel. “It is getting easier and I am getting used to sleeping on planes. San Diego looks a great city and we are hoping to see a little bit tomorrow afternoon on our afternoon off. The weather is a bit cooler than in New Zealand but is still nice and sunny. I think sevens is a sport that is meant to be played in the sunshine and has that culture. The whole atmosphere is better and your spirit is lifted when the sun is shining so I love playing in these conditions. It is never nice playing in the rain.”

England won the USA leg of the IRB Sevens last year, when the tournament was held in Los Angeles. Charlie and the rest of the squad have one simple objective this weekend – to win the tournament. Charlie says, “We won’t be happy with anything less than a cup win. We are in this series to win it and so far a cup win has eluded us. We have a tough pool with Kenya, USA and Australia. Having seen Kenya in Wellington they are a fantastic team and are really emerging as a strong sevens nation. All three of our pool games will be tough as USA on their home soil will have a lot of pressure on them to do well, and playing the Aussies is always a big occasion for England. It will be a tough competition but I can’t wait for it start.”

As Charlie spends more time with the sevens squad, he explains that he is realising the benefit of being involved. “My skills base has really lifted a level since being involved. If you don’t have a high level of skill you won’t survive in this series. My awareness of space has improved massively and it is a great tool for the RFU to use for young players and I am growing in confidence with each game and training session.”

Looking ahead, Charlie has some clear goals relating to his future career, “I would love to play for the senior Quins team again but I know that there are some great players in my position with the likes of Ugo Monye, David Strettle and Tom Williams. It encourages me to see David doing so well in the Saxons squad and I spent quite a bit of time training with him in the summer. He helped me with my line running and told me about the slightly different culture of sevens which was useful before I came away for the first time.”

As Charlie gets back to the inevitable focus on pre-tournament training with the rest of the England squad, he’s conscious that Quins supporters welcome the opportunity to stay in touch with what he is doing. “That’s all for now, I’ll try and share some more insights with all the folk back home later in the week.”




Wednesday 7th February 2007 (San Diego, 4pm Pacific Standard Time)