Players set for the international stage

Four past and present Worthing players are set to be in the Harlequins squad who are taking part in the World Club 7s event at Twickenham.

Current Raider Jack Maslen, who has played for the club all of his career, is set to be in the Quins squad alongside James Chisholm and Jordan Burns, who have both been on loan to Raiders in the last year, and Joe Marchant, who is on loan to Worthing from Quins for the upcoming season.

Harlequins reached the World Club 7s after progressing to the semi-finals of the Premiership 7s Series final at The Stoop on Friday evening. That saw them claim a spot in the World Club 7s as the top English Premiership side, behind Gloucester, who retained their title.

Quins defeated London Irish 26-10 in the quarter-finals on Friday evening, when Maslen touched down once and Burns twice, before they lost 19-15 to Newport Gwent Dragons in the last four.

Gloucester then beat the Dragons 12-5 in the final.

The group stages of the World Club 7s take place on Saturday, before Sunday will be the knock-out matches.

The event will be broadcast live on BT Sport and Maslen cannot wait to play at the home of rugby.

He said: “It will be an unbelievable experience. When you start playing rugby, you hope that one day you will play at Twickenham.

“Some people never get that chance and I cannot wait to have the chance to run out there.

“When I’ve watched 7s events there before, they have two tiers open, which could be about 30,000 people and that will be some experience.”

There are 12 teams competing in the World Club 7s and Quins will be in Pool A with New York, Western Province and RC Enisei.

The World Club 7s will also help boost Raiders’ profile and Maslen said: “It will get our name out there even more.

“Worthing is down on the south coast and not many people have heard of it but we got our name out there a bit more last year when we were in National 1.

“These events have all been televised as well and when I’ve watched them back, Worthing have been mentioned quite a lot, with who has played for us in recent years as well.

“Hopefully, things like this will help boost our reputation and get people interested in coming down here to play for the club.

“It was really good to play with James and Jordan again and it was good to get to play with Joe, who will be with us this season, as well.”

n Raiders have their first pre-season friendly on Saturday when they entertain Tonbridge Juddians at Roundstone Lane. The game kicks off at 3pm.

Worthing then host Richmond in another pre-season friendly the following Saturday (3pm).