He said, "It feels great to be back in Hong Kong. Last year it was so hard to deal with the disappointment. Obviously the three of us not selected wanted the team to do well and were still very involved but it was extremely frustrating sitting on the sidelines and not getting to play. To be so close to playing and then not do it was horrible!  It's really good to be back this year and be able to get a chance to play in what is an amazing tournament."
 
Only four of the squad have played in Hong Kong before and Andy revealed that there was real excitement among the squad ahead of the tournament.

"It hit us when we arrived last night when we flew in. There are posters for the rugby everywhere you go, the papers are all talking about it and there is a real buzz around the city already. All of us are so looking forward to running out on that pitch and experiencing what it feels like to play in front of 40,000 screaming England fans. There is no-where like this in the world really when it comes to sevens."
 
Andy was one of the 12-man squad who participated in the Commonwealth Games earlier this month, where England won the silver medal.  Now, 10 days on from the Games, Andy admitted he is still finding it hard to come to terms with the disappointment of losing out on the gold medal to New Zealand. 

"I don't think it has quite sunk in yet how disappointed we all are with missing out on the gold. We still did brilliantly well to win silver - the first time England Sevens has ever won a Commonwealth Games medal - but having reached the final it was gutting not to beat the All Blacks. I don't think it will hit home until we get back to England and talk to our friends and families. We all really want to make up for the hurt of Melbourne by doing well this weekend in Hong Kong."
 
Since the Commonwealth Games, the squad have been in a training camp in Indonesia which aimed to acclimatize the players to the humid conditions of their next two tournaments in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Andy explained: "Everyone back home was teasing me for being in Bali and making out I was having some kind of holiday. All I can say to that is you should try training in mid-30 degree temperatures with 97 per cent humidity and then see if you call that a holiday! The first training session in those conditions was one of the hardest I have ever faced. 

"The training we did was ridiculously hard. You literally couldn't see because you were sweating so much and everyone was just in their own little worlds wanting just the tiniest breeze to occur. We did well to keep our skill level up but it was pretty tough going. It did prove to be worth it though as as the week went by each training session got a little easier to cope with. We certainly acclimatized by the end of the week which was exactly the aim and reason for holding a camp rather than fly all the way back to England for a few days before leaving again for Hong Kong.
 
"It was very much a case that this is a five-week trip and we may have played the Commonwealth Games but we still have two very important IRB Sevens tournaments to play which we need to win. We have a very realistic chance of being the first team other than the New Zealanders to win the IRB Sevens but we need to win this weekend in Hong Kong and make sure we don't let the Fijians open up any more of a gap ahead of us in the table."
 
He continued: "The coaches got the balance right in terms of giving us some rest time during the week. They knew how much the Games had taken out of us both emotionally and physically so we needed a few days just to sleep and re-charge our batteries. A lot of the players had been building up to the Commonwealth Games for months and even years for the likes of Henry Paul and Simon Amor. Even for me, I was thinking about the Games for the last year, and wanted to play well in order to gain selection all season so it is bound to take some time to come down after the tournament and be able to focus on the next one."
 
Andy has been involved with the sevens squad for the past two seasons and is a member of the core squad this season.  

"I think I enjoy the whole camaraderie the most. As there are only 12 players and six management there is quite a close-knit, family atmosphere whenever we are away which I really enjoy. Everyone gets along well and we all work hard but enjoy what we do at the same time. It is sometimes hard being away from home and away from loved ones so its important that you have a group of people around you who you can turn to and who you get on well with."
 
Andy has been keeping a close eye on Northampton's news while he has been away and was pleased to see last weekend's results.

"I saw we had a great win over Newcastle away this weekend. I made sure I gave Taity (Mathew Tait of Newcastle) some banter about that! It was a superb effort and the boys are all doing so well and are hopefully forgetting about the worries of relegation and are focusing on trying to get into Europe."
 
England arrived in Hong Kong on Sunday ahead of the tournament which begins on Friday. England face Hong Kong, USA and Canada in the pool stages. England are currently second in the IRB Sevens series behind Fiji.