Amor needs greater depth to challenge consistently
SIMON Amor concedes a lack of strength-in-depth has hindered his side’s chances this season.
England head into the London event in confident mood after third place at the Commonwealth Games and in Singapore. However their failure to contest strongly throughout the season means Amor’s side lie eighth, a whopping 57 points behind leaders Fiji.
Amor told TRP: “We’ve got to develop our pathway. Our depth is not as big as it needs to be, both in our men’s and women’s programmes, so it means we’ve had to prioritise certain key tournaments.
“We’ve been successful in that way and I was really pleased with how we brought things together for the Commonwealth Games and Singapore, but it means we find it a bit more challenging to achieve the consistency we need.
“We need to improve our talent pool. With the brutality of the game now – how physically demanding it is on players and the injury rates – for us to get up with the Fijians, New Zealanders and South Africans, who now have a well established 7s academy, that’s the area we must get right.”
England’s men have failed to record a tournament victory this season but Amor is confident of a good showing at Twickenham, where inspirational skipper Tom Mitchell is due to make his 50th competition appearance.
Amor said: “I’m excited about what we’ll bring to London. We were a little slow to adapt to some of the new breakdown laws earlier in the season where we had a lot of one-score losses, but we’ve built some good momentum now.”
On Mitchell’s contribution, Amor added: “He was exceptional at the Commonwealth Games and what’s impressive is his leadership. To play 50 tournaments so consistently well is rare and he’s undeniably one of the world’s best playmakers.”