9 Australian Sevens stars have earned a Super Rugby contract for 2011, after a scintillating year their zing has been rewarded.

The ever-growing list of 2009/2010 Sevens representatives, who after achieving Australia’s best finish on the international circuit in almost a decade, have earned a prized call-up to represent their states in the expanded 15-team Super tournament from next year.

The Australian Sevens finished an admirable third behind victors Samoa and runners up New Zealand in an outstanding season on the IRB World Series circuit that included winning the historic London Sevens to record the team’s first tournament victory since 2002.

James Stannard, in the absence of regular captain Patrick McCutcheon, skippered Australia to their famous victory at Twickenham and also led coach Michael O’Connor’s side to a second finals appearance a week later at the Edinburgh Sevens.

To put the squad’s fine achievement in perspective, Australia finished a lowly eighth overall in the previous two World Series and hadn’t recorded a better finish than fifth since 2000/01.

“I don’t find it surprising at all that a bunch of the younger boys are going to make the step up to Super Rugby next year,” Stannard said. “They’ve been on the radar of the Academies for quite a while and I guess good performances in Sevens this year and also in the 20s have helped push that along.”

The Queensland Reds have snapped up a raft of exciting Sevens talent in signing flanker Liam Gill, fullback Dominic Shipperley, backrower Ed Quirk and centre Kimami Sitauti for next year.

The rookie Reds quartet recently returned from the IRB Junior World Championships where the Australian U20s finished runners-up to arch-rivals New Zealand. The four were among the standout performers in Argentina and assistant U20s coach Anthony Eddy largely credited time spent on international Sevens circuit as preparing the youngsters well for the challenges of the JWC.

Captain McCutcheon earned his NSW Waratahs stripes at the backend of the 2010 Super 14 competition and will be an asset to the sky blue pack in 2011 while electric winger Brackin Karauria-Henry has also signed on with the Moore Park-based franchise for next season.

Centre Ed Stubbs is another to graduate from the Sevens ranks, signing with the Brumbies squad for the next two years, while Nick Phipps will become a foundation member of the Melbourne Rebels after committing to a one-year deal.