WORCESTER wing Jonny Hylton will find out next month if he will earn a place in the England Sevens squad that travels to Wellington and Los Angeles at the start of next year.

Hylton and former Sixways back Ben Gollings were part of the England side that recently won the Emirates Dubai Sevens and followed it up with a semi-final finish in George, South Africa.

Those performances mean that England travel to New Zealand and the USA as top seeds.

New Zealand have proved unbeatable in the last three AXA International New Zealand Sevens and following a disappointing start to their 2005/06 season England coach Mike Friday believes they will want to impress the home crowd.

"New Zealand have won the IRB Sevens for the last six years so just because they have had a surprisingly disappointing start to this season they should never be underestimated, particularly not at their home tournament.

"Over 30,000 fans flock to the tournament all cheering for the Kiwis.

"The New Zealand Coach Gordon Tietjens is bound to unearth some new home grown talent at this tournament ahead of their defence of their Commonwealth Gold title."

Friday was impressed with the way his young side handled things in Dubai and South Africa and is hoping for more of the same.

He said: "Wellington is a notoriously difficult place for any England side to play and it proves great experience for the young players to have to perform in such a hostile environment as a packed Westpac stadium.

"It is an exciting tournament with a sell-out crowd but we face a tough pool with Australia and Scotland -- both squads who are improving at every tournament and are very capable of upsetting the so-called favourites.

"I was really impressed by England's performance in the first two tournaments this season, especially as so many of them were making their England Sevens debuts."

And Friday thinks it will be a great chance for the players to stake their claim ahead of the Commonwealth Games in March.

He said: "These are the last two tournaments before everyone focuses on the Commonwealth Games in Australia.

"We have a training camp for the whole squad in mid-January but these two legs of the series will be a good opportunity for some of the youngsters to gain some valuable experience."

Friday continued: "These two tournaments are scheduled at an important stage in the northern hemisphere calendar with the start of the RBS 6 Nations and just as the battle for the Guinness Premiership is hotting up.

"I work closely with the premiership Directors of Rugby and am grateful for their understanding."