Success of Murrayfield saw Sevens go global
“Rodber took his chance on the outside and outpaced an embarrassed Campese to score”
Reading last week’s paper brought back some good memories of England’s first World Cup victory. Not that glorious night in Australia back in 2003 when Jonny Wilkinson’s boot put the finishing touch to a well built platform in the right area of the field which was delivered by the forwards to win the game, but some ten years earlier in Scotland.
At the time Sevens was seen as pretty much an end of season jolly, with many clubs holding tournaments with BBQ s and beer as the main training essentials. There were, of course, some semi-serious events like Melrose and Hong Kong, but even they were more about the festival than the football.
When the IRB sanctioned the first 7s World Cup to be played at Murrayfield in April 1993, there was a similar reaction when the first fifteen a side World Cup was proposed. Which was a feeling that it wouldn’t work.
Much as the 7s was fun, not many countries (particularly the RFU) actually took it seriously, making the idea of a World Cup seeming slightly ridiculous, so there was a reluctance to include senior international players in the squad.
Just a few weeks before the tournament kicked off, former England flyhalf Les Cusworth was appointed coach, and a squad of mainly young players who had yet to make their international début were picked.
The team were led by England and Harlequins wing Andrew Harriman.
Andy was, I think, the only capped England player in the squad with most of the others having played for England A, including Lawrence Dallaglio, the equivalent of today’s England Saxons, and trained with or against the senior fifteens squad.
In Harriman, England had the perfect man to captain this rapidly assembled group. An enigmatic figure whose sanguine low key approach to the game masked a burning desire to win at all costs, coupled with a natural electric pace.
Not content with what he could do naturally, Andy put in extra training with former Great Britain Olympic 100 metre gold medallist Linford Christie.
One of two princes alongside Wasps and England wing Chris Oti, as they were christened by London division coach, Dick Best, I played with Harriman for London division and in his one and only capped England game against Australia in 1988.
Andy was a bit like Chris Ashton in that there was no question that he was a natural try scorer with pace to burn, but there were concerns about his defence and those concerns were probably why he never increased his tally of caps.
The plus side was when Andy was chosen to lead the 7s side, I remember his determination not to miss the chance to do something special with his team at Murrayfield, despite minimal support on or off the field from the RFU. Only when the team reached the final did any representatives from the RFU travel to Scotland to support the team and despite a glorious victory over Australia in the final to win the Melrose Cup, there was no hero’s welcome and real recognition of what Harriman and his squad had achieved.
For two of the squad, Matt Dawson and Dallaglio, the experience of playing in a World Cup final would have helped them understand the unique pressures of that environment. This benefited the full side ten years later where they both played a vital part in that win.
The final itself was a great game to watch and I would recommend you check it out on YouTube. The best moment I remember is in the first half with England on the attack and Tim Rodber on the break, up against David Campese, who showed the outside to give himself room to run down the wing and tackle him from behind – but Rodber took his chance and outpaced an embarrassed Campese to score.
The tournament was also memorable because of the Plate and the Bowl finals, which were won by what were tier two nations at the time. Argentina beat Spain 19-12 to win the plate and Japan beat hosts Scotland 33-19 to win the bowl. Those two wins were probably the most important factors in helping to create the momentum that has seen the growth of the World 7s series and the inclusion of 7s as an Olympic sport.
The full game is something that only a few countries can ever hope to excel in because of the technical demands of the game required in size, height etc, but 7s can be played by all. It has evolved through a number of stages, first the end of season jolly, to a potential training ground for young internationals to now, where the spe- cialist nature of the game has been recognised with players and coaches developed to master the technicalities of the short format.
All phases of that evolution have been successful in adding to the numbers who participate or watch the full game and have taken rugby to many places in the world where it would never have reached.
With the finals of the 7s World Cup in San Francisco today, I wish Tom Mitchell and his England squad good luck and hope he, like Andrew, can inspire his team to reach the heights of the ‘93 squad.