We can still improve from Dubai, says England Sevens coach Amor

Amor's side won bronze in the opening round in Dubai last weekend, beating Fiji 28-21 in the third-place match to secure a place on the podium.

Charlie Hayter returns to the senior squad after captaining The Royals academy side in Dubai as he makes his way back from injury.

England have pedigree in Cape Town, having beaten the hosts in the final of last season's event, and Amor is relishing his charges performing in front of another raucous crowd.

"Last weekend in Dubai was a great start to the World Series and you can just see how everyone has raised their game which shows that the sport has been taken to a whole new level across the board," he said.

"The intensity has really gone up and the margins are closer than ever," said Amor.

"There are a lot of things that we did well in Dubai but there's also loads that we can still work on, we will certainly look to learn from the New Zealand semi-final game in particular but as a first step it was a positive start.

"Cape Town is going to be a very exciting challenge for us – it's an amazing tournament and the atmosphere is just fantastic.

"It's obviously a special tournament for the squad after beating South Africa in the final last year, but our focus now has to be on day one and our first game."

England are drawn in Pool C alongside Uganda, Argentina and Scotland, with all matches set to be played on Saturday.

Dan Bibby and Alex Davis are still missing through injury, while Will Glover fills the role of 13th man.

Amor added: "Everyone's extremely excited to get stuck into it and to be a part of a very special leg of the series."

Sportsbeat 2017