England Sevens boss Joe Lydon believes he has the talent at his disposal to mount a stern defence of the Hong Kong crown.
England lifted the title for the first time last year, when they beat Fiji 33-20 in the final of the IRB World Sevens Series event.
Seven of the the 2002 squad - Simon Amor, Geoff Appleford, Phil Greening, Richard Haughton, Jamie Noon, Henry Paul and Tony Roques - will be flying out next week for the Hong Kong and Beijing tournaments.
They will be joined by Rotherham's Rob Thirlby, this season's wing discovery Ugo Monye (NEC Harlequins), Northampton Saints scrum half John Howard, London Irish centre Matt Cannon and Newcastle Falcons flanker Phil Dowson. Paul Hodgson (Bristol Shoguns) and Magnus Lund (The Sharks) follow later to take part in the Beijing tournament.
England are third in the world rankings following their win at Brisbane and run to the final in Wellington earlier this year - and double points are on offer at the Credit Suisse First Boston Hong Kong event.
"If you win a tournament like Brisbane or Hong Kong that's a massive plus because the series is so competitive now," said Lydon.
"The strength of the Sevens game is good for spectators and just about everybody is capable of beating everybody else now. But I'm confident about our squad and the ability of our players.
"We wanted to use the first tournaments (Dubai and George) to assess our players and we then targeted the next two tournaments. We did well and had a better balanced squad together and everything went well. We're pleased with the way things have fallen into place.
"The double points at Hong Kong does make a massive difference. Last year we jumped up the table afterwards, but first and foremost we want to do well because it's a very prestigious tournament. Even when I was playing in rugby league I used to watch and knew it was a tremendous event.
"Our mental preparation started at the end of last season. In the squad that won at Hong Kong in 2002 people said we must be part of this again and we made sure that Sevens was part of the England Elite Player pathway."
Last season's squad included rising stars Josh Lewsey and James Simpson-Daniel, whose success on the international stage comes as no surprise to Lydon, who believes the shortened version of the game helped develop their talents.
Since last year's Hong Kong tournament, Simpson-Daniel has baffled Barbarian Jonah Lomu at Twickenham and gone on to win four senior caps for Clive Woodward's side. Lewsey made a triumphant return for England at full-back during the RBS Six Nations Championship, scoring three tries in the games against Italy and Scotland.
"The likes of Josh Lewsey are doing very well this season and it was great to hear Jonathan Davies saying on the TV that you can see he'd played Sevens after his second try against Italy," said Lydon.
"People can learn because there's more room in attack and defence. I've got a clip of Josh scoring with exactly the same sort of run against South Africa in Sevens last season.
"I think we've helped another one in James Simpson-Daniel and other players with things they take back to England and their club sides.
"At Durban last year we had Nick Duncombe, who sadly died earlier this year, Simpson-Daniel, Geoff Appleford, who went to Argentina with England, and Jamie Forrester all in the same squad.
"We reviewed our objectives after last year's series and looked at what Sevens should be used for and agreed it should be to develop players who have the potential to go on and represent England at full international level.
"The average age of most of our players is around 21-22 and part of what we do is developing players moving up from our under-21s. We do have a couple of more experienced players but it's important to develop the younger ones.
"Most teams are on the circuit with younger and younger teams these days - apart from Eric Rush and Waisale Serevi, who are both about 106!"
One of England's big surprises this season is NEC Harlequins wing Monye, who was thrown in at the deep end last month.
He did more than just tread water by scoring two tries to secure the win against Fiji in the Brisbane final.
"He proved what an exciting player he is there," said Lydon. "His success was a surprise to most people and even we didn't expect him to come on so quickly."
England start the defence of their title with group games - against Singapore, Kenya and an as yet unnamed third team - on Friday, March 28 and Saturday, March 29.
The knock out stages take place on Sunday, March 30, with the final scheduled for 6.30pm local time.
IRB World Sevens Series Standings (top 10): 1 New Zealand 68pts, 2 Fiji 56, 3 England 46, 4 Australia 44, 5 Samoa 36, 6 South Africa 32, 7 France 20, 8 Argentina 20, 9 Kenya 4, 10 Wales 4.
England Sevens Squad for the Credit Suisse First Boston Hong Kong Sevens, March 28-30:
S Amor (Gloucester), G Appleford (London Irish), M Cannon (London Irish), P Dowson (Newcastle), P Greening (Wasps), R Haughton (Saracens), J Howard (Northampton), U Monye (Harlequins), Jamie Noon (Newcastle), H Paul
(Gloucester), T Roques (Saracens), R Thirlby (Rotherham), M Lund (Sale Sharks), P Hodgson (Bristol) and one other player join squad for Beijing tournament.