USA Rugby's Men's National Sevens Coach Al Caravelli hosts several new players at the most recent sevens assembly in Chula Vista, Calif this week as preparation and selection begins for the upcoming Hong Kong Sevens Tournament.

"Although we have a few new players in our pool, the characteristics we are looking for in the squad remain the same," Caravelli said. "We are still looking for players who are strong on defense, don't miss tackles and will make good decisions in a high pressure game situations."

The 22 players invited to this assembly will quickly be narrowed down to 12 by weeks end as the USA takes off on March 26 for Eastern Asia and the IRB's fifth Sevens World Series event, the Hong Kong Sevens.

Several of the National Sevens players invited to this pool were brought in after fulfilling their Rugby Super League obligations, therefore the assembly won't actually begin until the players have a day of recuperation and much needed recovery from their travel this weekend.

The players invited to this assembly include Jarvis Albury (OMBAC), Brian Barnard (OMBAC), James Gillenwater (Vanderbilt/Maryland Exiles), Justin Eilman (OMBAC), Riaan Hamilton (OMBAC), Justin Hundley (Penn State/NYAC), P.J. Komongnan (Washington D.C.), Vili Matanibukaca (Old Puget Sound), Tyson Meek (Worchester, UK); Kevin Mongold (Sciotto Valley), Andrew McNaughton (Denver Barbarians); Takudzwa Ngwenya (Dallas), Mike Palefau (Narbonne, France), Jason Pye (OMBAC), Marcus Respes (Philly White Marsh), Iopu Sanonu (Belmont Shore), Peter Sio (Belmont Shore), Dallen Stanford (Occidental College Old Boys), Ronnie Tisdale (Stanford University), Derrick Wavomba (Boston Rugby Club), and Chris Wyles (Northampton RFC, UK).

This marks this year's first sevens assembly appearance by Eilman, Matanibukaca, Meek, Sanonu, Sio, and Wyles.

The Sevens Team staff set to attend this assembly, which will again be held at the Chula Vista Olympic Training Center, include the head coach Al Caravelli (Ridgefield, Conn.) the team manager Kevin Sinabaldi (Virginia Beach, Va.), physio Bryan Searcy (Chicago, Ill.), video analyst Emilio Signes (Bethlehem, Pa.) and assistant coach Craig Hartley (Dana Point, Calif.)