Aussies game for practice run
AUSTRALIA’S rugby sevens women will use next week’s Sydney Sevens as a practice run for dealing with the home pressures of playing at a Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in April.
The second round of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series will be played over three days from January 26 at Allianz Stadium, with the women’s side keen to impress in the only Australian leg.
Dom Du Toit said the tournament, where the women’s event will be played alongside the men’s competition, was the perfect way for the team to get used to the additional pressures and attention of playing at home.
“We are just going to try and treat it like any other tournament, just like the last leg in Dubai,” she said.
“While it is very, very exciting to be at home, we have to manage the distractions.”
Du Toit, a travelling reserve for the Australian team that won gold at the Rio Olympics, was part of the side that opened the 2017-18 world series with a victory in Dubai late last year.
The winger said the host team were keen to continue their winning ways in Sydney after finishing second behind New Zealand in the last series.
Going into the Sydney Sevens, Australia leads the women’s points table from the US, Russia, Canada and New Zealand.
Each game comprises two seven-minute halves with a two-minute break in between.
In all, 79 games will be played over the three-day tournament. Australia has been drawn in Pool A with France, Spain and PNG.