Last year we saw Marcus Smith light up the competition and earn the starting job for the Harlequins first team. Is there a first-team starter hidden in Group D?

Watch the Premiership 7s LIVE on FloRugby

 Friday, July 27 - Saturday, July 28

The Premiership 7s features all 12 of the English Premiership teams in four pools of three. The teams play pool matches on Friday - kickoff is 11:30AM Central Time, 12:30PM Eastern Time.

"We've come up with a schedule that is really appealing to fans," said Premiership Rugby’s Dominic Hayes. "You won't have to wait around a long time to see your team, if you're supporting one club."

Fans watching at home will also be able to spend the afternoon with the Premiership 7s, do something else the rest of the evening, and then come back for the action Saturday morning - kickoff is 9:30AM ET on Saturday for the knockout rounds, which finishes just before 1PM.

The Premiership 7s are a proving ground for up-and-comers in the English professional club ranks. The rosters have a mix of returning players and fresh faces.

Who Will Be The Next Marcus Smith?

The Harlequins finished the 2017 Premiership 7s competition with a loss in the semifinals. The team returns two starters in captain Calum Waters and his back line partner Jake Hennessey. Last year we saw Marcus Smith light up the competition and earn himself a starting job for the Harlequins first team.

Harlequins Academy Coach Warren Abrahams will coach the sevens side. “It’s undoubtedly going to be a tough two days, but I am confident this group will live up to the Quins values throughout,” said Abrahams.

Harlequins squad for the 2018 Premiership 7s

1 Charlie Kingham

2 Cadan Murley

3 Fergus Guiry

4 Andrew Nurse

5 Louis Roach

6 Femi Sofalorin

7 Jack Kenningham

8 Lennox Anyanwu

9 Calum Waters (Captain)

10 Jake Hennessey

11 Max Coyle

12 Harry Barlow

Play Well And Get Promoted... To Portugal

The Bristol Bears did not compete in the 2017 Premiership 7s competition. But in 2018 the Bears are back, but the team will only play one first-team player in captain Reiss Cullen.

Academy backs coach Sean Marsden said: “With our first team squad being away on an intensive warm weather training camp in Portugal, this is a fantastic opportunity for a young group of talented players to represent Bristol Bears.”

Don’t expect the Bears to win the competition, but expect a few of the younger players to play well in the hopes of joining the first team in Portugal for training camp.

Bristol Bears squad for the Premiership 7s

1 Matt Welsh 

2 Jack Capon

3 Mike Uren

4 Reiss Cullen (c) 

5 Ioan Lloyd

6 Nathan Chamberlain 

7 Lailand Gordon 

8 George Harding 

9 Ehize Ehizode 

10 Dan Thurston 

11 Blake Boyland 

12 Sam Cappaert

Is It Shark Week?

Paolo Odogwu will captain the Sale Shark’s sevens side and spoke on the team’s training methods in the lead up to the competition. “We’ve got a good bunch of lads. We’ve been practicing for some time, in units within our main training sessions: 4v3, 3v2 for example,” said Odogwu. “We’ll translate those moves to the Sevens game.”

Academy Transition Manager Neil Briggs added, “The lads involved are really looking forward to the occasion and the opportunity to pull on the Sharks jersey, in many cases for the first time as a professional rugby player.”

Sale Sharks squad for the Premiership 7s

1 Rouban Birch

2 Ewan Ashman 

3 Sam Dugdale 

4  Teddy Leatherbarrow 

5 Ciaran Booth 

6 Tom Curtis 

7 Kieran Wilkinson 

8 Arron Reed 

9 Paolo Odogwu (CAPT) 

10 Gus Warr 

11 Connor Doherty

12 Tom Roebuck