New coach brings pro approach to sevens
Liam Middleton sees plenty of potential for progress with the Canadian rugby squad
Rugby Canada’s men’s sevens squad had a breakout season in 2013-14, finishing sixth overall on the HSBC Sevens World Series.
But the run of success came to a crashing halt when head coach Geraint John suddenly left to take up a new role with the Australian Rugby Union.
After a months-long search, Zimbabwean Liam Middleton was hired to take over. Middleton coached for many years in the U.K. and also led Zimbabwe’s national team in both fifteens and sevens. Now, with a month under his belt and two tournaments completed, Province Sports fires some questions his way … Q Liam, welcome to Canadian rugby, what drew you to the job?
A The main thing was the potential for progress. Canada’s an emerging sevens nation. There’s a lot of positivity around the coming year, between the Pan Ams in Toronto and it becoming an Olympic sport. It’s also a chance for a world series coaching spot. As a coach I want to work in an environment that’s very driven. I’ve got a real passion for the sevens game, and now I get the chance to coach a core team on the Sevens World Series. I didn’t get that with Zimbabwe.
What are your first impressions of the team?
It’s a very positive group ... the character and the attitude is as important as what they’re doing on the training field.
What’s your focus going to be?
As someone who’s been in the professional game for eight years now, my mindset is very much around the professional approach. They’ve done well but they can still do so much more.
The beginning of this season saw many close results, but in the end, no cigar. Was that down to bad luck — or something else?
They had a very good tail end of the season last year. This season, you can’t pin it down to one thing, there were a few contributing factors. Our work around the ruck, our breakdown work were way below par. One thing is fitness levels have changed considerably across the board, as teams have moved over to Olympic training centres. Our levels are not good enough right now, to be a top four side.
With your delayed arrival, the players started the season under the direction of Kieran Crowley and Ben Herring. Now you’re in charge, how’s the transition been?
The guys have responded very quickly. But it doesn’t matter what kind of coach you are, the transitional period is hard for both. I think it was especially hard for the players because the changeover period wasn’t immediate, there was a six-month gap between Geraint leaving and me starting. There was a catch up period, that wasn’t on Ben and Kieran, they did a great job but they were more caretaking.