Laidlaw outlines bold plans for centralisation

Incoming New Zealand sevens coach Clark Laidlaw has grand plans for the national programme when he takes over in June.

The Scotsman visited New Zealand for two weeks in January to meet staff, scout talent and start conversations with the national body about how best to improve the game in the next four years.

Top of the list of talking points were centralisation, something Laidlaw hopes will be in place for the 2017-18 World Series, and building better relationships with New Zealand’s Super Rugby franchises.

Laidlaw also revealed he wants to take a deeper look at how the game is played, and that means creating an advanced statistical system similar to that which NZ Rugby has for the 15s game.

There appears to be plenty of NZR buy-in to Laidlaw’s ideas, which should excite sevens fans disappointed in their performance over the past two years.

Centralising the sevens programme, likely in Mount Maunganui, would be the biggest development if it does go ahead.

Most sides around the world have centralised training bases and seen vast improvement in their performance as a result. For a great example, see Japan.

‘‘There’s a little bit of water to go under the bridge about how that works, how the contracting will work and so on, but the desire is that next season the team will be able to centralise,’’ Laidlaw said.

‘‘Then a player comes into a fulltime environment. He doesn’t come into two or three camps here and there and then sit in his hub. He becomes fulltime and we can help and facilitate the development better because we’re working with him every day. That’s massively exciting.

‘‘The time you spend together, all teams that do well have players that understand each other, and that comes from either training together for long periods of time or playing together. That’s why the All Blacks won the last World Cup with so many caps. It’s bloody important in team sport, so centralising could really help that.’’

It’s those sort of goals that are endearing Laidlaw to Super Rugby coaches, as he looks to earn their trust that sevens can help develop and nurture young talent.

Laidlaw hopes to have a system in place where Super Rugby coaches will be confident in sending young talent, which isn’t Super Rugby ready, off to play sevens for a season or two, developing their skills.

‘‘We have to continue to be an avenue for Super Rugby and All Blacks because that gives us access to the best young players,’’ Laidlaw said. ‘‘We’ve also got to build that trust with Super Rugby. If they’ve got a boy who is 18 and he’s not ready for Super Rugby, they have the trust that we have a programme that’s going to help accelerate the player.

‘‘That’ll take a bit of time, but being flexible, if a player potentially can’t play all the sevens, or has missed the whole of Mitre 10 and the Super Rugby team think he’s coming in with no rugby, well actually, come to sevens and play four tournaments.

‘‘Come 2020, we’ve got a young player that has played sevens at 17, 18, and has developed into an outstanding Chief, or Hurricane, or Blues player for a couple of years. The player knows sevens, loves sevens, the Super Rugby team is happy for him to come back and be part of our team, and that’s where we want to move the team towards.’’

Trust will be the key to that relationship, and it will go both ways.

Laidlaw is determined to fulfil his end of the bargain, and hopes that come 2020 those players will be available for selection in his squad.

Statistics is another area of development for the NZ sevens programme, something that hasn’t been tapped into in the sevens environment.

A taste of what can be looked at is in analysing the Fijian squad.

‘‘Fiji are actually the least penalised team over the last couple of years on the circuit. Everybody thinks, yeah, they’re loose and potentially a bit reckless, but it’s actually the complete opposite.

‘‘They also take the least rucks and have the most offloads of any team on the circuit, and statistics show that now 70 per cent of all tries are scored without a ruck or a tackle, in sevens. So every time you take a ruck or a tackle, you’re engaging the defence and potentially giving them a chance to turn it over, or give away a penalty or whatever.’’

Laidlaw hopes to have a statistical system developed for next season.