Athens utility back George Tsatsaronis has played down expectations of Greece winning the Corfu 7s which begin at Kerkyra FC on Friday.

Greece are one of ten sides taking part in the latest round of the European Championships. They will play in Group A alongside favourites Italy as well as Spain, Bulgaria and Cyprus.

Greece go into the tournament on the back of an impressive showing at the Tblisi 7s in Georgia where they finished sixth but were a whisker away from fourth.

In spite of the that Tsatsaronis, who captained the side in Georgia, does not expect Greece to win the Corfu event.

"We can't expect too much because we have only been playing Sevens for about two months," the 27-year-old told sportingreece.com.

"But we played some good rugby in Georgia and we have developed a good technique and structure so we should be competitive. It was pretty nice to hear the crowd applauding us after the Cyprus game, not because we won but because of the way we played the game.

"In Georgia, however, we saw Wales, who won it, and we realised how far we have to go to compete at that level.

"In Corfu we have to play against Italy, a Six Nations country, and that is exciting for us as players. Win or lose, we want to play well against them.

"The good thing about 7s is that it is not power driven so that means we can focus on technique and compete with these sides. If we are not able to beat them yet then at least we can put up a good performance.

Tsatsaronis is full of praise for new coach, the Greek-South African Nikos Petroloulos.

"He has worked very hard with us on things like positioning and we are now a very united team and that helps. It's about trust and being their for each other.

"This game has been quite liberating. I mean you have Philip Sotiriadis who is a roughhouse flanker in 15s and watching him dance across the pitch in 7s is extraordinary."

Greece have strengthened their 12-man squad with the inclusion of Giorgi Mshvildadze and Alexandros Gounaris, both of whom have enjoyed excellent seasons at club level.

"We have some fine players," says Tsatsaronis. " Chris Fiotakis has real pace and uses the other players well while Georgi is a really high quality player. Having this guys obviously puts us in a much better position.

"Not so long ago I never expected to play rugby in Greece let alone international rugby. And now we have an international tournament in Greece. Who knows where we can go from here."