WORCESTER Warriors are set to announce their squad for next Saturday’s Middlesex Sevens on Monday — and boss Mike Ruddock is ready to pick a strong team as he looks to go one better than last season.

Warriors finished as runners-up to Newcastle Falcons at Twickenham last year in Ruddock’s first competitive matches as director of rugby.

This season they have been drawn against Bristol in the first round and the likes of Pat Sanderson, Tom Wood, Marcel Garvey, Miles Benjamin and Loki Crichton are all set to figure as Ruddock goes for a mix of experience and youth.

“We are planning to select a strong Warriors squad with the aim of performing very well in the Middlesex Sevens and, hopefully, going one better than last season,” said Ruddock.

“As well as a squad that features experience it will also be an opportunity for a number of the young players who are up and coming who we believe will feature at senior level through the course of this season.

“This will be the first opportunity to see the players in action and, with our away fixture at Doncaster just 24 hours later, I hope the fans will come out to back us as wonderfully as they always do and get our pre-season off to a flying start.”

This year, the annual curtain-raiser has been expanded to 16 teams with the addition of the Ospreys, Dragons, British Army and National One promotion-contenders Leeds Carnegie.

The expanded format means the tournament reverts to a knock-out, with first round losers being entered into the plate competition.

Wasps won the tournament two years ago when a clutch of young players burst onto the scene, including England fly-half Danny Cipriani and New Zealand’s Dominic Waldouck.

In the first round, they will face Leicester Tigers, who have not won the Middlesex Sevens since 1995, their only victory in the event’s history.

One of the finds of the tournament last season was Warriors’ wing Miles Benjamin.

The 20-year-old helped take Worcester into the final, before making his Guinness Premiership debut against Leicester two months later.

Benjamin scored nine tries in just 15 league appearances for Worcester, making him the third top-scorer in the league in his debut season.

The speedster was then part of the England Under-20 squad that progressed to the final of the Junior World Championships, scoring four tries in the process.

Draw: Dragons v London Irish; Newcastle Falcons v Northampton Saints; Harlequins v Leeds Carnegie; Sale Sharks v Ospreys; Gloucester Rugby v Bath Rugby; Worcester Warriors v Bristol Rugby; Leicester Tigers v London Wasps; Saracens v British Army.