While Cardiff braces itself for the descent this weekend of what will seem like the entire population of Munster, in support of their team to play Toulouse in the final of the Heineken Cup, Twickenham plays host to the world. The world, that is, as encompassed by rugby's abbreviated game of sevens, the version that is still knocking hopefully on Olympic doors.

"There's a new word out there now, 'mondiality', which the Olympic movement is after," Ben Ryan, the England sevens coach, said and there is little doubt that rugby provides it. Moldova and Spain join the party for the Emirates Airline event on Saturday and Sunday, while the current ranking in the International Rugby Board's grand prix includes Kenya in fifth place, two higher than the powerhouses of England and Australia.

Ryan spent last weekend in the company of the Brazil team involved in the women's sevens in Amsterdam but has switched his attention to England's efforts to end the series - Murrayfield, on May 31 and June 1, is the final leg of the grand prix - in fifth place at least. Though not yet guaranteed another sevens crown, New Zealand on 126 grand-prix points lead the way from South Africa (92), Fiji (74) and Samoa (68) and need only seven points to retain their title - a semi-final place or victory in the plate competition would suffice.

It has been a difficult season for Ryan, who has used a record 33 players and has had less time than usual with his squad. There is the satisfaction for him in seeing individuals such as Danny Care and Tom Guest, who have done time on the sevens circuit, making their way into England's senior touring party to New Zealand next month but that has to be balanced against the attempt to find consistency and challenge teams such as New Zealand and Fiji once more.

The days when England won four Hong Kong titles in a row seem long gone and this season they have suffered defeats not only by Kenya but the Cook Islands, too. There is no great shame in that, given the different standards applied to sevens by the participants: England, Fiji and Argentina make the most substantial contributions to their respective national XVs whereas other nations regard sevens as an end of its own and select what amounts to full-time squads.

"We no longer have top-end, established players, we have developing players with a smattering of sevens specialists," Ryan said. "Some of these guys come through quickly, guys like Care, Guest, Matt Banahan, so when they get their chance at XVs, they go through the roof. A year or so ago it was the likes of James Haskell, Tom Croft, Nick Abendanon, who are now established with their club sides and making their mark with England or the Saxons.

"I'm happy that we're a development side, you don't want sevens specialists who can't step up, that would be a waste. But we've had to come through a process, in which the importance of the game has changed, before coming up with the right way of approaching sevens. I think some of the Premiership clubs are starting to realise the benefits of the exposure our guys get and it will help England in the world under-20 tournament [in Wales next month] that some of their players have already appeared in front of 50,000 people in places like Hong Kong and Dubai.

"We can definitely improve players but sevens is not the answer for everyone. Having said that, the prospects for this weekend are really good. It's great we have people like Ben Foden and Lee Dickson involved, these are good players who will want to make an impact."

England begin against Spain on Saturday morning then build up, via unpredictable France, to an evening encounter with South Africa. For further information, access: www.londonsevens.co.uk.

Pools: A - New Zealand, Wales, Argentina, Moldova. B - South Africa, England, France, Spain. C - Fiji, Australia, Canada, Portugal. D - Samoa, Kenya, Russia, Scotland.

England squad: J Adams (Gloucester), K Barrett (Exeter Chiefs), T Biggs (Leeds Carnegie), C Cracknell (Cornish Pirates), L Dickson (Newcastle Falcons), B Foden (Sale Sharks), B Gollings (Sunnybank), U Odouza (Worcester), O Phillips (Newcastle Falcons), A Vilk (Sale Sharks, captain), R Webber (London Wasps), T Youngs (Leicester).