Friend keeps faith with 7s specialists
AUSTRALIA opted for a no stars policy, just potential gold medallists.
For all the talk of high profile Super Rugby players adding Olympian to their resumes not a single contender made the cut. No Quade Cooper, no Nick Cummins and no Henry Speight.
Speight, below, may yet be called up, with injury troubling squad member Nick Malouf and coach Andy Friend giving himself another week of training in the attritional sport to name two shadow athletes.
“Sevens has always been seen as the fallback, if you couldn’t get a Super contract you’d go and play Sevens,” Friend said.
“I don’t believe that it is the case anymore. We may have some players who see that as a pathway and that’s good, but I believe after Rio we’ll have young aspiring rugby players who just want to be Sevens players.”
Lewis Holland, Cameron Clark, Jesse Parahi and Henry Hutchison joined captain Ed Jenkins on the 12man list and will be justifiably proud to have seen off a number of bigger-name challengers for an Olympics berth.
Time was the biggest obstacle, with some of the XVs hopefuls unable to devote enough lead-in time to learn the intricacies of the fastpaced Sevens format.
Speight proved his dedication by heading into training camp with the squad straight after the World Cup, a major factor in why the Brumbies winger is still in with a chance.
Cooper spent a couple of headline-generating months with the team, but bowed out in May, while injury dented Test star Cummins’ campaign after the Force winger linked up with the squad in March. But competition for spots was so hot enough that it was clear not even the “Honey Badger” was going to waltz into the squad.