Warriors Women’s Alex Callender will captain Wales 7s at the Rugby Europe 7s Championship in Russia this weekend.
Callender, 20, who skippered her country for the Lisbon leg of the series earlier this month, will be going toe-to-toe with Spain and Scotland in the first stage of this weekend’s competition.
“We are really pleased to see Alex captaining the Welsh squad,” said Warriors Women Director of Rugby Jo Yapp.
“She is such a tenacious and hard-working young player, and it is great to see her efforts being rewarded.”
Yapp’s side began their pre-season campaign last week, with the two Alex’s – Matthews and Callender in the thick of the international scene. Matthews is currently in camp with the Team GB 7s squad ahead of the Olympics, while Callender leads Wales in Moscow.
Head coach Warren Abrahams said, “We have progressed nicely following the Lisbon 7s. We’ve had some challenges, some injuries and unavailability for this weekend. However, we are pleased with the level of consistence in selection as we look to build consistency and improvement in our performances.
“The girls have a tournament under their belt now and are looking for further improvement – both since Lisbon and over the course of the weekend.
“It’s great to have Hannah Jones back with us following her time with GB. Obviously, she is bitterly disappointed not to be selected, as we all are for her; but the way she’s represented herself this week is admirable. She has brought an extra edge to training which has really rubbed off on the rest of the squad. Kat Evans and Angharad De Smet have also brought a different dimension to the team.”
Abrahams added, “Spain were runners-up in Portugal earlier this month and are strong contenders with a number of tournaments under their belt while the Scotland game will be another opportunity for a great Home Nations battle.
“We are going to concentrate on making improvements from game to game and hopefully from the last tournament to this.”
Abrahams says the whole squad is proud of Jasmine Joyce on her Olympic selection and Georgia Evans for making the Allianz Premier 15s team of the season.
“We are all so pleased for Jaz, she is going to show the world what she’s capable of and we are all right behind her, we’ll be watching the Olympic rugby sevens competition very closely from home.
We are also very proud of Georgia. It’s been a tough season internationally for us so to stand out as she has done for her club is outstanding.”
Wales Women Sevens squad, Moscow 7s
Alisha Butchers (Bristol Bears)
Alex Callender (Capt, Worcester Warriors)
Gwen Crabb (Gloucester-Hartpury)
Bethan Dainton (Harlequins)
Angharad De Smet (unattached)
Georgia Evans (Saracens)
Katharine Evans (Saracens)
Hannah Jones (Gloucester-Hartpury)
Bethan Lewis (Gloucester-Hartpury)
Jade Mullen (Harlequins)
Kayleigh Powell (Bristol Bears)
Shona Powell-Hughes (Gloucester-Hartpury)