English rugby union's traditional season curtain-raiser takes place on Saturday when Twickenham stages the Middlesex Sevens.

The tournament, first held in 1926, this year features six past winners, while England, Scotland and Wales all appear under charity banners in an important rehearsal for the autumn's Commonwealth Games.

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"The competition will be the start of our build-up to a busy season in sevens with the Commonwealth games just around the corner," said Wales coach Paul John.

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"England will also be strong, as always, having gone down the 100% professional route with their players. They will be well-prepared in front of the Twickenham faithful."

Title holders London Irish, complete with the likes of Delon Armitage, Paul Hodgson and Sailosi Tagicakibau, open up against Leicester, while Wasps - spearheaded by renowned sevens exponents Tom Varndell and David Lemi - face Newcastle in the two all-Premiership first round ties.

Newcastle lifted the trophy in 2007, and a strong Falcons squad includes England sevens internationals Micky Young, Rob Vickerman and Charlie Amesbury.

"There is plenty of talent in this Falcons group, and it promises to be an exciting tournament. The standard of competition will be high," said Newcastle coach Mark Laycock

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Martin Johnson has given Steve Borthwick hope of a return to the Red Rose shirt after revealing the England captaincy for the 2011 World Cup is far from decided.

The Saracens lock captained England in Johnson's first 20 Tests but was forced to sit out the summer tour Down Under thanks to a recurring knee injury - handing the captain's armband to Lewis Moody.

Moody staked his claim for the role permanently by leading England to a 21-20 victory over Australia and on his return from injury Borthwick's role in the England squad took another step back after being left out of the 32-man squad for the coming season.

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Falling behind David Attwood, Courtney Lawes and Tom Palmer for the spot on the second row seemed to spell the end for the 30-year-old, but Johnson insists the veteran can force his way back into his 2011 plans.

"I will not commit to Moody being captain until the World Cup ," said Johnson."It is very competitive.

"The great thing about this camp is we have got the senior 32, which was a tough call, but also the guys who did not made have all come back.

"There is big pressure on guys. Anyone who thinks they are comfortable in the England 32 won't be there for very long.

"Guys are wondering how they are going to get in. It is very competitive and the best squad we have ever had.

"It doesn't get any tougher than the conversation I had with Borthwick. You like to think people get what they deserve and he didn't get what he deserved.

"We had the conversation and Steve instantly said: 'I'll prove you wrong'. That is exactly what you want. He hasn't whined about it, he hasn't moaned about it.

"I said to the guys we are treating the whole group as a squad. It is not Saxons and seniors.

"If you are playing better than the number one guy then there is never a time when you haven't found yourself in the England team. Steve knows that and he is keen to get cracking."

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Wallabies' fullback Kurtley Beale said Monday a resilient attitude can turn around the struggling team's fortunes against the dominant All Blacks.

New Zealand reinforced their status as the top-ranked team in world rugby by winning the trans-Tasman Bledisloe Cup for an eighth consecutive year and are poised to recapture the Tri-Nations trophy off South Africa.

The All Blacks kept their unbeaten Tri-Nations campaign on track with a 20-10 victory over the Wallabies in Christchurch last Saturday and are only one point away from claiming the Tri-Nations crown for the 10th time in 15 years.

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Beale conceded New Zealand were only going to get better leading into next year's World Cup at home, but said the Australian team's belief was growing.

"We won't get overwhelmed. Robbie Deans has done a fantastic job to keep us this close together," Beale told reporters.

"If we just knuckle down and focus on our game strategy and focus on what we have to do and turn up with the right attitude, we can do anything.

"It's a young group and I think it's a really good balance for the group and we'll stay together... we'll be ready to show everyone what we're really about."

The Wallabies are now playing for second place in this year's Tri Nations, but Beale said achieving that by beating the Springboks in South Africa would give his teammates a massive confidence boost.

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"We know that if we can't be number one in the world at the moment, we're trying to aim to be number two and it all starts with our two-week tour in South Africa," he said.

"It was a disappointing loss against the All Blacks last week but we'll take a lot of positives and it's a huge step from the week before."

The Wallabies' next Test will be against South Africa in Pretoria on August 28 followed by another in Bloemfontein on September 4 with Australia not having won at high altitude in the republic since 1963.

Beale, centre Anthony Faingaa and his twin brother, hooker Saia Faingaa were all part of a record indigenous representation in an Australian national rugby team last weekend.

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Wales winger Mark Jones has failed to recover from his third major knee injury and is retiring from rugby.

Jones was hurt while training with Wales last November, and the 30-year-old announced on Tuesday he was ending his playing career to become a skills coach for his Scarlets club.

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Scotland V England Hospitality

He represented Wales from 2001-09, highlighted by the 2008 Six Nations Grand Slam. He didn't play for Wales after the 2003 World Cup until the 2006 Six Nations, during which he had reconstructive surgery on both knees.

"Ultimately the decision has been made for me and I have to retire from the game," he said. "It does feel as though it has come a little prematurely and I was hitting some decent form last season before the injury."

“We believe that these have been the right decisions to take after close and amicable consultation with the clubs concerned,” said Johnson. “We will continue to have regular contact and subject to fitness look forward to seeing all of the players when we meet again at the end of October ahead of the Investec internationals.”

The stumbling block this time is that England has a five-day summer camp starting at Twickenham on Monday and the French domestic season - their T14 Championship - starts with an extensive six-match programme on the Friday night a full three weeks ahead of the English Premiership.

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Scotland V England Hospitality