Rugby 7s general chat

[Nusadan]

I'd put Henry Hutchinson in the radar for the 2016 Games as early as October, despite his age and still being at school, his speed alone makes him a perfect candidate for 7s so the earlier, the better!

Also I'd look at Stannard as a potential coach, he has vast experience as a player and has been exposed to various coaches in his playing career. He'd be too old for 2016 anyways!

 

[Brumby Jack]

New coach announced the Men's 7's team.

Australian Rugby Union today announced Geraint John as the new Qantas Men's Sevens Head Coach.

The 51-year-old joins the ARU from Rugby Canada where he has been Head Coach of the Canadian Men's Rugby Sevens team since 2010.

He will commence his duties for Australia on Monday, 23 June, before taking charge of the team for the first time at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in July.

John will then lead Australia into the 2014/15 HSBC Sevens World Series, which kicks off on the Gold Coast in October - the first tournament of the Olympic qualification period.

 

[Nusadan]

Geraint John seems to be a good choice although perhaps a bit out of left of field given the likes of Mike Friday and others were discussed here as possible replacements for MOC.

He did a good job of getting a team cobbled together from such a large country of little rugby history to achieve much success above its weight.

 

[Lindommer]

Do we really need to shaft the minnows of world rugby to advance our cause? I would've thought we'd be sending coaches TO countries like Canada with our long history, and success, in the game. As we do in cricket.

Why haven't we developed enough local talent to take the national 7s coaching job?

 

[Braveheart81]

The ARU should be transitioning James Stannard into a 7s coaching role. The guy has more 7s playing experience than anyone else in Australia and he's reaching the end of his career. Surely he'd be a good person to be involved in 7s coaching and eventually coaching the Aussie team.

 

[wamberal]

I wish the new appointee well. I hope he has a couple of good talent spotters working for him, and I hope he is a very good networker, he is going to need to get a lot of cooperation from the various stakeholders and interested parties.

Oh, and it would help if he is good at promoting the Sevens concept!

 

[Braveheart81]

The first interesting step will be who gets drafted into the Sevens squad for the Commonwealth Games.

Apparently O'Connor left a list of players to target.

With three Aussie teams vying for the finals you'd assume that the only Tahs, Brumbies or Force players they could go for would be EPS etc.

Hopefully the Reds and Rebels release Gill and McMahon.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Do we really need to shaft the minnows of world rugby to advance our cause? I would've thought we'd be sending coaches TO countries like Canada with our long history, and success, in the game. As we do in cricket.

Why haven't we developed enough local talent to take the national 7s coaching job?

Developing players is only part of the puzzle in terms of a genuine Rugby 7's national capability. Coaches, S&C, Physios and administrators are needed to be developed organically.

The first step on this path should be a part time consultancy role to the ARU for MO'C to develop a Rugby 7's coaching pathway, with input from Geraint J, with level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 Courses.

A couple of bright young interns should then work with the Shrewd Shiraz Guzzlers to put together a more structured Rugby Sevens strategy and annual calendar. It all seems to be very haphazard at the moment.

We shouldn't have to rely on a talent spotter to spot the next Cam Clark in 15's rugby and co-opt him into the Rugby Sevens programme. Athletes should have the chance to showcase their talent in competitive sevens tournaments, and develop their skills over time through good coaching and robust competition.

Should there be a NRC style Rugby Sevens competition/programme/series started up to be run in the IRB Sevens series off-season?

 

[qwerty51]

Great appointment imo. Canada are very skilful and well drilled and achieved their first ever final recently. With a better playing group at his disposal we could start winning tournaments again.

 

[SevensPhD]

The ARU 7s GM, Anthony Eddy, is leaving at the end of May. No word on why, and who will replace him. He was working on "a more structured Rugby Sevens strategy and annual calendar." as Hugh pointed out is needed.

 

[SevensPhD]

It seems as though Geraint will be taking most of Eddy's duties:

"The Australian Sevens program – both men’s and women’s – is moving to a new centralized base in Sydney and John is going to be right in the middle of it all.
“It’s not just the head coach of the men’s program,” he said. “I’m going into a role that’s ‘director of sevens’ – i’m the manager of both the men’s and the women’s programs. I have the overall responsibility.”
“That was an integral part of my decision process,” he said. “I felt it was a promotion. It was a recognition of what i’d done having the centralized program here, and a recognition of what I’d done as high performance director for Rugby Canada before that.”

http://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/0...john-to-australia-and-away-from-rugby-canada/

 

[Omar Comin']

I think it's a great appointment. That Canadian team has been very good in the latter part of this year's series. To get them to 6th in the overall standings ahead of the likes of Kenya, Samoa, Argentina and France is fantastic.

Australia finished 5th this year. If he can move us up 1 place we'll qualify automatically for the Olympics. If it finished the same as this year we'd have to aim to qualify through an Oceania tournament (where we'd likely have to beat Samoa in a one off game). If we didn't win that we'd have to win a final qualifying tournament. We'd be the favourites, but there'd be teams involved that could potentially beat us in a one off match.

So for all the talk about the likes of Folau, Genia, Hooper etc coming in for the Olympics keep in mind we have to qualify first. And it's no given!

 

[qwerty51]

I'm fairly certain the qualification wouldn't be a one-off game. No one would be that stupid for a 7s game.

 

[Omar Comin']

I'm fairly certain the qualification wouldn't be a one-off game. No one would be that stupid for a 7s game.

That's my understanding of it. The IRB have released the details.

Brazil and the top 4 in the 2014/15 IRB series qualify automatically.

The next 6 qualifiers will be the winners of regional qualifying tournaments in Oceania, Europe, Asia, Africa, South America and North America. If we didn't come top 4, we'd likely make the final against Samoa in the Oceania tournament, and that could go either way.

The final place will be taken by the winner of a repechage style tournament (I think between 12 teams, but I can't remember exactly).

 

[SevensPhD]

Shalk Brits and Bryan Habana have been chosen for the South Africa Commonwealth Games squad. I wonder who Australia will bring? I doubt anyone that has not played 7s, but possibly Foley, McMahon, and Morahan. Titch also recalled 3 Super Rugby players that have been with NZ 7s.

On another note, it is confirmed that IRB regulation 9 is in effect for the upcoming IRB Sevens Series (Olympic Qualifying), meaning that all clubs must release players for any stop this year...including Super Rugby clubs.

Whether they actually do is another story, as Fiji and Samoa can attest - they never seem to get players released for 15s duty.

 

[Braveheart81]

I think Australia will be looking at McMahon and Gill for the Commonwealth Games.

Foley will be busy with Wallabies/Waratahs and if Morahan is healthy, I doubt the Force will release him given they're also pushing for a finals spot.

You'd expect the squad to be named very soon.

 

[Omar Comin']

Agree with Braveheart.

There must be a few fringe Super Rugby squad members that would be putting their hand up as well. I reckon Ben Volavola would be a gun at 7's for example.

It really is too bad that there is no super rugby sevens event. Even if it's just one event a year, we need to give super rugby players interested in sevens a chance to play the game. I don't think it's going to be ideal next year if we have super rugby players debuting in 7's (at a high level) in a world series event / olympics qualifier. Yet that's what will probably happen if top players want a shot at the olympics.

 

[Braveheart81]

Agree with Braveheart.

There must be a few fringe Super Rugby squad members that would be putting their hand up as well. I reckon Ben Volavola would be a gun at 7's for example.

It really is too bad that there is no super rugby sevens event. Even if it's just one event a year, we need to give super rugby players interested in sevens a chance to play the game. I don't think it's going to be ideal next year if we have super rugby players debuting in 7's (at a high level) in a world series event / olympics qualifier. Yet that's what will probably happen if top players want a shot at the olympics.

We will have 18 year olds with no experience debuting in the same events. I don't see a problem with Super Rugby players doing the same.

The calendar is already so full. Super Rugby players need to give up things to play 7s, there isn't really room to tack more events on top of the existing schedule.

 

[qwerty51]

Gill and McMahon should definitely go over, we're lacking a bit in the forwards for 7s atm.

 

[Omar Comin']

We will have 18 year olds with no experience debuting in the same events. I don't see a problem with Super Rugby players doing the same.

The calendar is already so full. Super Rugby players need to give up things to play 7s, there isn't really room to tack more events on top of the existing schedule.

That isn't ideal either. We need domestic pathways for both young players and existing professional players. When they're selected to play 7's for Australia we should know in advance whether they're any good at 7's. Not develop them at events that count towards olympic qualification. Hopefully this first olympics cycle is the only time it happens and that by the time we're trying to qualify for 2020 we've got some sort of summer series, or at least an NRL 9's equivalent.

And I disagree with you that the calendar is full. The calendar for our super rugby players is a lot less full than it is for European players for example. Players interested in playing for the Australian 7's (and good enough to make it) will obviously have to give up things to play IRB tournaments, but I don't think playing a few domestic games of 7's on an annual basis in summer would be overkill. It'd be good pre-season training if anything!