History on offer again for sevens golden girls
TWO years on from Rio, Australia’s rugby sevens golden girls are sharper, stronger, better – and also hellbent on making history again by claiming inaugural Commonwealth Games gold.
Tim Walsh’s eye-catching team of skilled heroines enter the Gold Coast event back on their perch as the world’s best team after suffering a postOlympics hangover last year.
They made Australian fans sit up and take notice in 2016 by blitzing the first Olympic Games tournament for the sport, upsetting arch-rivals New Zealand in the final.
Charlotte Caslick, Ellia Green, Emma Tonegato, Emilee Cherry, Sharni Williams and co became household names and media darlings after their golden success.
Now, Walsh - to finish his impressive stint with the team at next month’s Games – says they are even better, and perfectly poised for a second piece of history.
“We’ve targeted this as a benchmark event and the players and staff are very happy with the way we’ve planned this and the way we’re heading towards it,” he said.
Motivation is also high for the Australian men’s team, who want to bury their Olympic disappointment and overcome heavyweight rivals Fiji, South Africa and NZ for a breakthrough gold.