Sydney University Football Club has two players in the 12-man squad to contest the opening round of the 2015-16 HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series in Dubai on Friday and Saturday.
Australia’s most capped Sevens representative, Ed Jenkins, will captain the side, which includes his SUFC teammate Tom Kingston, who will be making his Sevens debut for Australia.
Jenkins has already competed in two Rugby World Cup Sevens campaigns and won a silver medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi and a bronze medal at the 2014 Glasgow Games.
A member of Australia’s Cup winning sides in London (2010) and Tokyo (2012), Jenkins missed most of the 2012-13 season with injury.
Former NSW Waratahs and Melbourne Rebels fullback Tom Kingston joined the national Sevens program last month after playing every game for the Sydney Stars in the 2015 National Rugby Championship. The Stars went from cellar-dwellers in 2014 to semi-finalists this year.
Kingston was an Australian Schoolboy representative in 2009 and an Australian Under 20 representative in 2011. He was a member of the NSW Waratahs in 2011-13 and Melbourne Rebels in 2014-15).
Injury prevented two other SUFC members, Pat McCutcheon and Greg Jeloudev, from selection for the Dubai tournament.
Australia head to Dubai on the back of some fine form, having won the Central Coast Sevens last month and the Oceania Regional Olympic Qualifier in Auckland a fortnight ago.
Last December, the Aussies finished tournament runners-up in Dubai after falling to a red-hot South Africa in the Cup Final.
The Dubai Sevens is the first of 10 legs on a re-vamped Men’s World Series calendar that now features Cape Town, Sydney, Singapore and Paris.
Australia have been grouped in Pool D of the Dubai tournament with Kenya, Wales and England.
