Richmond’s Francesca Matthews has been called up to the England Sevens squad ahead of the Women’s International Invitational tournament at the Marriott London Sevens this weekend.

Matthews replaces her club and country teammate Alice Richardson who has been withdrawn because of an injury picked up in training this week.

Matthews has 24 caps and most recently featured in the IRB Sevens World Series in Guangzhou, China in March.

England take on the reigning world champions Australia as well as France and Spain in a tough pool while Canada, Russia, the USA and Ireland will all be vying to make the quarter-final stages in the other pool.

The pool matches and quarter-finals will take place on Twickenham’s Cardinal Vaughan pitches and the semi-finals and final will be played in Twickenham Stadium.

The tournament runs alongside the final round of the men’s HSBC World Series.

Joining Matthews from Richmond are Claire Allen and Alexandra Matthews.