User:James Rodwell

James Rodwell (born 23 August 1984 in Wendover, in England) is a rugby union player. He is now centrally contracted to the England Sevens team

A Number 8, Rodwell has previously played for Moseley RFC.

Winning the Emirates Airlines London Sevens in front of a home crowd at Twickenham in May 2009 was ‘an amazing feeling’ in the words of James Rodwell, who plays Number 8 at 15-a-side but shows adaptability, mobility and handling skills in the abbreviated game.

James also had the distinction of scoring a try in all five matches in the Hong Kong tournament in March 2011. He has since taken his try tally in the IRB Series to 39 with three in the Port Elizabeth tournament last December and one against Australia in the cup semi final against Australia in Tokyo.

Last season he scored 12 with two against Portugal and Fiji at Dubai in December 2010, one in the George final against New Zealand and a total of nine in the last five tournaments in Wellington, Las Vegas, Hong Kong, Adelaide, Twickenham and Murrayfield.

A graduate in Business Commerce at Birmingham University, he began playing at the age of seven at Tring RFC, his local club, and Berkhamsted Collegiate School from the age of ten, where he figured at centre and full back and coach Graham Burchnall was his mentor.

It was onward and upward for James, whose England Sevens debut was against the United States at Dubai in 2008. Along the way, John Caves, his university coach and Moseley team manager, was another guiding influence as James was the club’s U21 player of the year in 2004-05, the players’ player in 2006-07 and supporters’ player in 2008-09.

Representative honours came thick and fast on his rise with Hertfordshire Schools 18 Group, London & South East U18, captaining North Midlands U20 and representing Midlands U20 foreshadowing appearances for English Universities in 2005, England Counties (2006) and England Sevens.

As for role models, Ben Gollings (‘at his age he was still tearing up the World Series’) and Lawrence Dallaglio (‘I used to love seeing him play at Number 8’) are tops for him. Alongside those he admires, James ‘came of age’ when he scored his 21st HSBC Sevens World Series try in the 36-10 pool match victory over Canada at Murrayfield at the end of May 2010.