Three months ago England and Canada locked horns in the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2014 final and both sides will have a number of players from that title decider in their squads for the Women’s Sevens Series opener in Dubai on 4-5 December.

The two rivals will meet in Pool C at 7he Sevens with England’s squad featuring six of their WRWC 2014 winners and Canada, who lost that final 21-9 in France, fielding six players who helped their country reach their first final in the showpiece event.

Rachael Burford, Alex Matthews, Natasha Hunt, Danielle Waterman and Claire Allan will hope their Fifteens’ success will translate onto the Sevens stage as England prepare to also face new core team Fiji and Brazil in Dubai.

Since that World Cup success, England have handed 19 players a professional Sevens contract, something which should boost their hopes of securing a top four spot in the 2014-15 Series to qualify Team GB for Rugby Sevens’ debut at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.  

“This has been an unbelievably difficult squad selection process but it has been for all the right reasons,” admitted coach Simon Middleton. “All the players put their hands up in last week’s training tournament in France so really this squad came down to it offering us more choice when it comes to positional rotation. 

“Dubai is a big tournament for us. Strategically, it is really important to get off on the right foot and establish ourselves as our final placing affects seeding for the following tournaments. In addition, Olympic qualification is inevitably a driving force of everything we are targeting this season.” 

“I think we have got one of the toughest pools to be honest. Fiji won [the Series qualifier] in Hong Kong recently, they are fantastic ball carriers and we know they are very dangerous from our experiences of playing them last season. 

“Brazil are a developing nation full of energy while Canada are one of the best prepared teams in the world and I would say the toughest side we faced last season. It is going to be a very tough tournament.” 

England squad: Abigail Chamberlain (captain), Rachael Burford, Alexandra Matthews, Michaela Staniford, Leanne Riley, Amy Wilson-Hardy, Natasha Hunt, Alice Richardson, Emily Scott, Danielle Waterman, Claire Allan, Joanne Watmore.

Kelly Russell, Karen Paquin, Mandy Marchak, Elissa Alarie, Ashley Steacy and Magali Harvey were all part of Canada’s squad at WRWC 2014 with the latter named IRB Women’s Player of the Year 2014 after the 21-9 loss to England.

Harvey was last week named as one of the nominees for the International Rugby Players’ Association Try of the Year 2014 for her effort against France in the semi-finals of WRWC 2014 and Canada will be hoping she can work her magic in the Sevens game in Dubai.

Jen Kish will again captain Canada’s Sevens team, having missed the Dubai tournament last season due to injury, in the knowledge that if they replicate their third place finish in the last two Series they will qualify for the Games.

“This season is all about qualifying,” explained coach John Tait. “We want to win an event and a Series, but we’re focusing on getting the points needed to be top four at the end of the season.
 
“This core group has been together for a few seasons now and we’ve added some quality youth and talent along the way, making our programme more competitive than any previous year.”
 
While Tait made a habit of integrating some youth into his squads last season – including at least one teenager in his squad for each tournament – the youngest members heading to Dubai are 22-year-olds Bianca Farella and Julia Greenshields who both plenty of experience in the Sevens team. 
 
Canada squad: Elissa Alarie, Arielle Dubissette-Borrice, Bianca Farella, Julia Greenshields, Magali Harvey, Jennifer Kish, Ghislaine Landry, Mandy Marchak, Kayla Moleschi, Karen Paquin, Kelly Russell, Ashley Steacy.