The British Army, winners of last year's Middlesex 7s tournament, are relishing the challenge of defending their crown at this year's Compass Group Middlesex 7s on Saturday 13 August at Twickenham.

The 12 Guinness Premiership clubs will be taking part along with Bedford Blues, Blackheath, NEC Harlequins and the British Army, in what promises to be a day of world class fast flowing rugby entertainment.

Apolosi Satala, a British Army soldier who is capped at both 7s and 15s for Fiji and played in all of Fijis games when they won the World Cup 7s in Hong Kong in March this year, said 'I am really looking forward to the challenge of competing against the Guinness Premiership teams and I know that I will have to be on top of my game and in the best form to be selected as competition for places in the Army team is never taken for granted by any player. I love playing at Twickenham and the atmosphere of the Middlesex 7s tournament is absolutely fantastic'.

All the British Army squad have seen operational duty in the recent past with a number of them very recently returned from Iraq.

Andy Hickling, the Army sevens coach, said 'It is an honour for anybody to be involved in Army rugby and pull on the coveted red shirt. It is particularly important that we are given the privilege to be able to compete at the highest level, it does not get any better than the Middlesex 7s'.

The British Army XVs team won the inter service title for the fourth year in a row recently and also beat the touring New Zealand Army.

Tickets for the Compass Group Middlesex 7s can be bought via Ticketmaster on 0871 871 0777 or via the Middlesex 7s website at 25 pounds for adults and 10 pounds for Under 16s. The first game kicks off at 11.20am

Groups of 10 tickets or more purchased via the Group Booking Line 0871 871 3777 qualify for a 5 pounds discount on every ticket, no credit card handling fees, a choice of exclusive reserved seats, a mention in the match day programme of your chosen group name, scoreboard recognition, entry into a draw to win RBS Six Nations tickets, and for group bookings of 20 or more, the group leader will receive a limited edition DVD of highlights of Martin Johnson's phenomenal career. Hospitality packages are also available via Twickenham Experience Ltd on 020 8831 7971.