Many may have thought they had heard the last of Ben Gollings when he left Worcester Warriors earlier this season to emigrate to Australia.
But the talented 24 year old is on course to put his name in the record books this weekend - for the number of points scored in the IRB Sevens series.
The record is currently held by Waisale Serevi of Fiji but Ben, who is preparing to play for England in Wellington this Friday, knows that there are just 12 points between them.
"It wasn't really something I had thought about until I played for England in George in December and someone pointed out how close we were. I suppose it really is quite a big thing and would be a real landmark in my career so I am pretty excited about it. I just have to make sure I don't get complacent and have to just let it happen rather than try and force it. If I do that then it will go wrong. So if I get there this tournament it will be fantastic, and then it will be a case of how long I can keep hold of it for!"
Cornish born Ben, who played for Newcastle Falcons last season, decided to make the move to Australia for family reasons and is currently waiting for the rugby season to start in Australia before joining his local club, Sunnybank.
"I am based on the Gold Coast, just south of Brisbane. At the moment I am just training and spending time relaxing. The whole reason I left England was because of the family and I am lucky that playing for England is still an option for me. I was out in Dubai playing for an invitation side and was called up by England ahead of George because they lost a few players. It was a fantastic opportunity as I have always loved playing England sevens. Now that I am in Australia England have given me a programme and I keep them fully updated on my training results. It's working well at the moment."
2005 is a World Cup year for sevens and Ben admits that the thought of playing in the World Cup was massive motivation for him to get back involved in the sevens squad, "I was unfortunate a few years ago not to have been able to play in the last Sevens World Cup and I would love to be involved this time round. I think England have a real chance of winning the tournament and it would be an absolute dream to help lift the World Cup trophy in Hong Kong."
And yet Ben acknowledges that competition for places will be extremely tough. England Sevens Coach Mike Friday has brought in a number of exciting youngsters to the team this season, and the balance of new talent alongside some experienced sevens players helped England to secure their first ever win in the Emirates Airline Dubai Sevens in December. "The youngsters who played in Dubai and George certainly proved themselves and stepped up to the plate. You only have to look at Mathew Tait who played with us in December and is now earning his full England cap against Wales to see what potential the youngsters coming through the sevens set up have."
But for now, Ben is concentrating on the challenge England face in Wellington, "It's a fantastic place to play rugby as the crowd are quite hostile which creates a tremendous atmosphere. The whole city stops dead for the sevens and we all use the crowd as an extra bit of motivation. England have never won in Wellington, despite coming close a couple of years ago, and it would be very nice to do well as its certainly one of the tournaments we desperately want to win."
IRB Sevens Points Scorers:
Waisale Serevi (Fiji) 1033 points
Ben Gollings (England) 1021 points