Top seeds Portugal have signalled their bold intent to secure one of the five 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens berths on offer at the European qualifying final in Hanover this weekend by naming a strong squad littered with captains.
Coach Tomaz Morais includes canny playmaker and former Sevens captain Pedro Leal and Diogo Mateus, who led Portugal at the recent IRB Sevens World Series events in London and Edinburgh, while Portugal's Rugby World Cup captain in France last year Vasco Uva is also included.
Diogo Mateus is joined in the squad by his twin brother David and Antonio Aguilar offers pace out with Aderito Esteves, who impressed at the London Sevens, where Portugal beat Canada and Australia to reach the Cup quarter-finals, and in Edinburgh, where they won the Shield.
"There is pressure as top seeds but it's a good pressure," Morais told Total Rugby. "We played in the last three Sevens World Cups but it's going to be a difficult tournament because all the teams want to qualify so will take their best players.
"This season the Sevens is the most important goal for us and continues to be massively important for us in Portugal."
Portugal's final Pool A match on Saturday will pit them against Russia, the side they beat in the final FIRA European Sevens event in Moscow leading into Hanover and also in the Shield final at the Edinburgh Sevens.
Coached by the experienced Frenchman Claude Saurel, Russia also caught the eye in the final two events of the 2007/08 IRB Sevens World Series with Igor Galinovkiy, Alexander Shakirov and the talented Yuri Kushnarev impressing.
All of the 12 participating teams have now announced their squads for the Hanover qualifier, from which five will qualify for next year's Sevens showpiece and join England, France and Scotland, the three European sides already assured of a place in Dubai after their Melrose Cup quarter-final berths in the 2005 event.
Spain look to follow example
Spain coach José Ignacio Inchausti will hope the 12-man squad he has selected can match the achievements of their female counterparts, who booked their place at RWC Sevens 2009 by finishing fourth in their European qualifier last month.
Inchausti has named a strong side, all bar three of them aged 25 or under and the majority of them - including the likes of Pedro Martín, Pablo Feijóo, Facundo Lavino, César Sempere and Sergi Guerrero - having played in the last two events of the IRB Sevens World Series at Twickenham and Murrayfield this year.
Spain, who won the sixth FIRA European Sevens event in Greece to help secure their place in this RWC Sevens qualifier, won the Shield at the London Sevens, beating Russia and Series core team Kenya. They then beat another core team in Canada in the pool stages a week later in Edinburgh to showcase their potential.
Wales under no illusions
Gareth Baber, the Wales Sevens coach, has named a strong squad to travel to the German city of Hanover qualifying final in a bid to win entry to the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Dubai next March.
“We have put ourselves in a good position by virtue of winning our two recent tournaments in order to get here in the first place, but the Hanover Sevens promises to be a highly competitive competition with all 12 teams having reached this stage through their own qualifying tournaments," said Baber.
“We have met the likes of Spain, Portugal, Russia and Georgia at IRB Sevens Series tournaments and we are under no illusions about the standard of other teams such as Ireland who beat us in Denmark, and Italy."
Georgia and Romania look to World Cup stars
They may have taken the final place in Hanover as the 12th ranked nation after the seven FIRA European Sevens events, but Georgia coach Kakhaber Alania has named a strong squad as they seek to qualify for a third successive RWC Sevens.
The likes of Giorgi Chkhaidze, Bidzina Samkharadze, Merab Kvirikashvili, Giorgi Shkinin and Irakli Machkaneli were members of Georgia's squad which impressed at RWC 2007 and have since helped the Lelos win the European Nations Cup.
Their fellow Pool A side Romania also boast one of their players from RWC 2007 in their squad for Hanover in Steaua Bucuresti full back Florin Vlaicu.
The 21-year-old also played in the recent IRB Nations Cup in Romania, when the hosts finished third behind Emerging South Africa and Georgia, along with others members of this Sevens squad Valentin Ivan and Florin Surugui.
Hosts hungry for success
Rugby in Germany is a sport on the rise with the national side having recently been promoted to the top tier of the European Nations Cup for the first time, while their Sevens side have experienced the IRB Sevens World Series with two events in recent years.
Lofty Stevenson, the New Zealander now coaching Germany's Sevens side, will have more than 30,000 fans - many of them from within the host nation - cheering on his side in their Pool A matches with Portugal, Spain, Russia, Romania and Georgia.
The German side warmed up for the event by playing in Linden over the weekend, a star-studded British Army side the pick of their opponents then and Achim Behring-Scheil, the organiser of the Hanover event, admitted the "the level of play was very high and raised the appetite even higher for the weekend."
Stanojevic gives Italy cutting edge
Marco Gabrielli and Fabio Gaetaniello have named their Italy outfit for the Hanover event, including pacy wing Marko Stanojevic, who has eight senior Test caps.
Stanojevic recently played for Italy A in the IRB Nations Cup, along with Michele Sepe, the scorer of two tries in the final of the third of seven FIRA European Sevens events in Zagreb leading into the regional qualifier in Hanover.
Ireland go with tried and tested
Ireland Sevens coach Jon Skurr has stayed loyal to many of the players who won in Poland and finished runners-up in Denmark to reach the final in Germany.
Cian Aherne, Richard Briggs, James Coughlan, Chris Henry, Seamus Mallon, Conor McPhillips, Andrew Maxwell and international Kieran Campbell all took some part in the previous rounds and the squad is bolstered by the inclusion of Ireland A Churchill Cup players Darren Cave and Ian Keatley, who have both already played for the Sevens team, as well as Keith Earls and Brian Touhy.
"Our minimum goal at the start of this campaign was always to qualify for the World Cup and we have been happy with our performances to get to this point," said Skurr.
"The squad has developed and improved since our first outing in May but this tournament will require another step up in performance."
In January Uruguay became the first men's team to qualify for the World Cup by beating Chile 31-19 in the South American final in Punta del Este.
Participating teams in Hanover: Portugal, Wales, Ireland, Spain, Russia, Italy, Ukraine, hosts Germany, Romania, Poland, Belgium and Georgia.
Pools
Pool A
Portugal
Spain
Russia
Germany
Romania
Georgia
Pool B
Wales
Ireland
Italy
Ukraine
Poland
Belgium
Squads
Belgium: Mathieu Verschelden, Alexandre Van Pestel, Johann Bombaerts, Frédéric Gruel, Kevin Williams, David Nemsadze, Shane Massinon, Morgan Croisy, Jérôme Cauwe, Simon Marote.
Georgia: Shalva Sutiashvili, Simon Maisuradze, Giorgi Chkhaidze, Bidzina Samkharadze, Merab Kvirikashvili, Alexander Todua, Giorgi Shkinin, Jaba Bregvadze, Lasha Khmaladze, Alexander Nizharadze, Irakli Machkaneli, Irakli Gundishvili.
Germany: Mustafa Güngör, Tim Kasten, Christopher Weselek, Mathieu Franke, Clemens von Grumbkow, Mike Härtel, Benjamin Krause, Benjamin Simm, Franck Moutsinga, Alexander Pipa, Stefan Kunde, Markus Walger.
Ireland: Cian Aherne, Richard Briggs, Kieran Campbell (Captain), Darren Cave, James Coughlan, Keith Earls, Chris Henry, Ian Keatley, Seamus Mallon, Conor McPhillips, Andrew Maxwell, Brian Tuohy.
Italy: Kristopher Burton, Benjamin De Jager, Gabriele Gentile, Alvaro Lopez-Gonzalez, Antonio Mannato, Roberto Mariani, Alessandro Onori, Davide Pastormerlo, Tomas Pucciariello, Michele Sepe, Marko Stanojevic, Benjamin Tomaghelli.
Poland: Tomasz Grodecki, Maciej Maciejewski, Artur Maros, Tomasz Kozakiewicz, Rafal Janeczko, Wojciech Lukasiewicz, Jakub Lisiewski, Mariusz Motyl, Marek Plonka, Patryk Narwojsz, Dawid Banaszek, Donald Gargasson.
Portugal: Aderito Esteves, David Mateus, Goncalo Foro, Vasco Uva, Pedro Silva, Pedro Leal, Antonio Pinto, Diogo Mateus, Frederico Oliviera, Pedro Cabral, Sebastiao Cunha, Antonio Aguilar.
Romania: Carl Cimpoias, Florin Vlaicu, Bogdan Bradu, Florin Surugiu, Andrei Filip, Ionut Florea, Madalin Lemnaru, Viorel Lucaci, Valentin Ivan, Marian Dumitru, Daniel Nainer, Razvan Suteu.
Russia: Evgeny Bystryakov, Igor Galinovkiy, Andrey Kuzin, Andrey Garbuzov, Evgeny Matveev, Alexey Panasenko, Yuri Kushnarev, Alexander Shakirov, Alexander Gvozdovskiy, Oleg Kobzev, Viktor Gresev, Sergey Gavryushin.
Spain: Javier Canosa, Facundo Lavino, César Sempere, Sergi Guerrero, Víctor Márlet, Diego Á. Gorosito, Pedro Martín, Jaime Nava, Juan Cano, Rafael Camacho, Ignacio Martín, Pablo Feijóo.
Ukraine: Ruslan Tserkovnyy, Vadim Kolyshkin, Vitaly Orlov, Maksim Kravchenko, Sergey Tserkovnyy, George Gegidze, Sergey Monastyrev, Oleg Kvasnitsa, Sergey Garkavyy, Jaba Malaguaradze, Vyachselav Ponamorenko, Alexandr Lubyy, Giorgi Todradze.
Wales: Jonathan Edwards (Captain), Lee Beach, Rhodri McAtee, Lee Williams, Martin Roberts, James Lewis, Gareth Chapman, Alec Jenkins, James Merriman, Dafydd Hewitt, Andy Powell, Richie Pugh.
For more information on the Hanover Sevens go to www.hannover-sevens.de
