We preview pool B at the Emirates Airline London Sevens at Twickenham this weekend, featuring England, Samoa, France and Georgia.

So often the bridesmaid and never the bride, England kick off their home Emirates Airline London Sevens at Twickenham this weekend clear of both New Zealand and Fiji in the World Series standings, but still in second place.

In the past, finishing ahead of Oceania's two Sevens giants would almost have guaranteed the title but this season has seen the rise of South Africa, and they now look destined to land the overall crown for the first time.

By their own high standards, England were poor throughout much of last season so it is difficult for coach Ben Ryan to be too disappointed. Especially given the projected crowd figures, which are guaranteed to be better than ever with pre-sales up massively in recognition of England's improved form.

"It's brilliant to have the opportunity to play at Twickenham and we're expecting possibly over 40,000 on Sunday," said Ryan.

"They've already sold 32,000 for that last day, which is way up on last year, so it looks like the British public is finally embracing the Sevens.

"We've come along really quickly this season and it just shows what a bit of consistency, some backing from above and some high fitness standards can do, and we've got a team now that's well settled and the benefits are obvious," he added.

Level with South Africa on 60 points at the mid-way stage in the season, Ryan's side suffered a dip in form at both the World Cup and in Hong Kong and Adelaide, which has left them 28 points adrift of the Boks with two events to play.

"We were well placed half way through the Series but then we had a blip," said veteran star Ben Gollings.

"If a few results throughout the season had gone another way right at the death we could be looking at a very different situation."

"We are where we are," added Ryan. "It leaves us plenty of room for improvement and that's what we intend to do over the next two weeks - enjoy ourselves and carry on from where we've gone.

"South Africa have pretty much a full strength side and they should do the business and take a first World Series.

"For us, we just want to do our best. We've got a pretty competitive group with the French, who won in Morocco last weekend, Georgia are always a pain and then obviously Samoa, who have knocked us over plenty of times, so it's South Africa's to lose now and we're just going to make sure that we give it a good crack."

Pool B Low-down

England
 
IRB Sevens World Series 2008/09:
Dubai: Cup Final, lost v South Africa 12-19
George: Plate Final, won v Portugal 24-7
Wellington: Cup Final, won v New Zealand 19-17
San Diego: Cup Final: won v Argentina 14-19
Hong Kong: Cup QF, lost v Fiji 10-12
Adelaide: Plate final, won v Australia 24-19
 
Current Series Position:
2nd, 76 pts

London 2008:
Cup SF: lost v Samoa 12-14

No Tom Varndell for England this weekend, retained by Leicester as back-up for their Heineken Cup final against Leinster, but there's still an embarrassment of riches to call upon. Mickey Young returns to vie for the scrum half role with Kevin Barrett after starring early on in the season, Tom Biggs and Uche Oduoza offer pace out wide with youngster Dan Norton and the timeless Gollings will be there in the thick of things to pull the strings with captain Ollie Phillips. Big Isoa Damu's injury leaves a gap to fill but with Rob Vickerman back among the forwards and Chris Cracknell, James Rodwell and Neil Starling also there they should have plenty of go-forward.

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Samoa
 
IRB Sevens World Series 2008/09:
Dubai: Plate Final, won v Kenya 12-7
George: Plate SF, lost v England 19-20
Wellington:Shield SF, lost v Niue 12-21
San Diego: Plate SF, lost v kenya 12-17
Hong Kong: Cup SF, lost v South Africa 3-29
Adelaide: Bowl final, won v France 35-14
 
Current Series Position:
7th, 36 pts
 
London 2008:
Cup champions v Fiji 19-14

Supposedly retired from the Sevens game after the Adelaide event, Sevens' most-capped player Uale Mai is nonetheless back again for Samoa as they bid to defend the title they won last year. Prolific try-scorer Mikaele Pesamino returns in the place of Timoteo Iosua and Lolo Lui and Reupena Levasa also offer options in the backs. Alafoti Fa'osiliva is the star up front in the absence of Simaika Mikaele and Ofisa Treviranus, who stay in Samoa on fifteen-a-side duty.

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France

IRB Sevens World Series 2008/09:
Dubai: Bowl Final, lost v Portugal 0-24
George: Bowl Final, won v Australia 21-12
Wellington: Bowl SF, lost v Tonga 5-12
San Diego: Bowl Final lost v Australia 0-40
Hong Kong: Plate SF, lost v Tonga 10-19
Adelaide: Bowl final, lost v Samoa 14-35
 
Current Series Position:
12th, 4 pts
 
London 2008:
Bowl semi final: lost v Australia 7-21

Winners at the Tangier Sevens two weekends ago, France arrive in London on form and confident, which in their case is always a dangerous combination. Paul Dabrin is the only debutant for the season climax and dangerous strike runner Jacques Boussuge is probably their key man in his 11th tournament. The lively Julien Patey lines up for his 18th Series event.

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Georgia

IRB Sevens World Series 2008/09:
Dubai: Shield semi final, lost v Arabian Gulf 12-22
George: Shield semi final, lost v Scotland 12-17
 
Current Series Position:
unranked, 0 pts
 
London 2008:
Did not compete

Unheralded, largely unknown and relatively inexperienced, the Georgians give IRB Series debuts to half of their squad. Georgi Shkinin is their main man with nine tries in his five tournaments to date, but in all the 12 squad members have played just 16 tournaments between them so this may prove a testing stage, and a tough pool.