Of all the players who have experienced at first hand the IRB Sevens World Series, only one has stayed the course over its 10 year lifespan.

Englishman Ben Gollings started his international Sevens career back in 1999 and last weekend at Twickenham reached the phenomenal milestone of 2,000 Series points.

Five years ago in Los Angeles, Gollings surpassed the great Fijian Waisale Serevi as the sport's leading all time point-scorer and since then he has set about stretching that record.

Serevi's tally of 1,310 remains the second best and the next Englishman on the list is Gollings' former captain and half back partner on the tour, Simon Amor, with 721.


VIDEO: GOLLINGS' TOUGHEST OPPONENT IN 10 YEARS? FIND OUT..  

"I was hoping to knock off the 2,000 landmark before the end of the season so I'm delighted, and to do it at Twickenham obviously makes it all the more special," said a beaming Gollings, who helped England to a first London title since 2004 at Twickenham on Sunday.

In his 10 years of international Sevens, Gollings has provided a steadying constant for coaches to plan around. In tandem with Amor he masterminded four straight Hong Kong titles and has competed at two Commonwealth Games, winning silver in 2006.

"Sevens has played a massive part in my life really," he said, "I love representing my country and I love playing Sevens and to be able to tour the world like I've done over those 10 years has been huge. I might never have got to do that if I was doing something different.

"The game's come on leaps and bounds too, and it keeps throwing up new challenges, which is why I stick around to keep playing."

Over the same period no less than 18 full England internationals have come and gone, using the Sevens game to develop themselves as players.

The unforgiving nature of Sevens helps even the best to hone their skills and England's rising stars have mostly had the significant luxury of doing so within a winning environment built around the acumen and considerable talent of Gollings, not least his ability to land crucial drop goals.

Dan Norton's fine try brought England back to within two points of New Zealnad in the London Cup final last weekend, but it was Gollings' tricky conversion which drew them level and took the match into sudden death extra time.

Gollings' graduates: Making the grade through Sevens (1999 - 2009)

Ugo Monye, 235 points
David Strettle, 165
Ben Foden, 153
Tom Varndell, 150
Mathew Tait, 145
Danny Care, 120
Henry Paul, 112
Pat Sanderson, 110
Peter Richards, 100
Danny Hipkiss, 85
James Simpson-Daniel, 84
Andy Gomarsall, 69
Josh Lewsey, 64
Jamie Noon, 47
Mark Cueto, 45
Luke Narraway, 40

Add to the above list the likes of Tom Croft, Tom Rees and James Haskell, other Englishmen to have played Sevens alongside Gollings without making it into their country's top 50 scorers, and you begin to grasp the scale of the rugby nursery to which he has contributed so vastly.

Mathematically, England and Gollings still harbour hopes of winning a first ever World Series at Murrayfield this weekend but in reality it is South Africa's to lose.

Paul Treu's side lies 20 points clear in the standings, meaning that they need only reach the Cup quarter finals, or even win the Bowl in Edinburgh, to put themselves out of reach of the London champions.

"Over the years we've been close but we haven't really set ourselves up like we did this season," said a rueful Gollings.

"If you go back to the way we finished off Wellington and San Diego (Cup winners and runners-up respectively) we were in great form and then unfortunately just let it blip.

"But we're not here saying it's all done and dusted now. We're going to put a fight up now and try and come away with it. But you have to say that it is still South Africa's to lose."

Tickets

Tickets for each day of the Emirates Airline Edinburgh Sevens Festival – priced at £15 for adults, £10 for students and senior citizens and £5 for under 18s – are available to by logging onto www.scottishrugbytickets.com, by calling the Ticket Hotline on 0871 200 1511 (open 9am-5pm, Monday to Friday) or in person from the Murrayfield Ticket Centre, Roseburn Street, Edinburgh (open 9am-5pm, Monday to Friday).