Royal Navy Flanker Greg Barden Leads England Sevens To Victory In Dubai
On Saturday Royal Marine and Navy Senior XV Flanker Corporal (Greg) Barden led an England Sevens Team for the Quarter-Final of the HSBC World Sevens Series against the current series champions New Zealand.
Barden had been named as Captain of the England Sevens Team at the start of the sevens season, a prestigious position of which Greg said: "The captaincy is a huge honour. It's a big ask from the coach to take on that responsibility but hopefully it's something I'll thrive on and enjoy immensely throughout the season.
England Sevens Head Coach Ben Ryan said of his selection of Barden as Captain "Greg has enormous respect from everyone. He's quiet but when he does speak everyone listens and he leads by example.
"His last appearance for us was in the Hong Kong final when he was absolutely outstanding. He really does epitomise wanting to give everything you possibly can when wearing an England shirt."
As Barden ends his 14 year career in the Royal Marines which has seen him serve not only his country on operations, but the Royal Navy Rugby Union, Combined Service's and England Sevens Rugby with distinction gaining 14 Navy, 2 Combined Service Caps as well as 11 World Series tournaments appearances for England.
Under Greg's Captaincy England went on to beat New Zealand 10-7, before he steered the side to a semi-final win over Fiji 19-12. This saw them face France in the final. In front of some 40,000 supporters, England showed too much pace and experience as the beat France to retain the Dubai Sevens trophy 29-12. Greg and the team now head off to South Africa on the 3rd leg of the HSBC World Sevens Series