Sevens buoyed by Olympic factor
New Zealand’s World Cup winning centre Sonny Bill Williams will be in Dubai this weekend to watch his sister Niall play for the Kiwi women’s side.
Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens defending champions South Africa have brought in two 15s players to bolster their ranks ahead of rugby’s readmission to the Olympic Games next year.
Centre Juan de Jongh and scrum half Francois Hougaard join the likes of 2015 Sevens World Series Player of the Year Werner Kok, and last season’s sevens series top try scorer Seabelo Senatla — making Neil Powell’s side a real force to be reckoned with ahead of the 2015-16 series opener at the Sevens Stadium this weekend.
With the Rugby World Cup recently concluded and another four years to wait until the next edition, 15s stars are set to flood the shorter format in order to pursue their Olympic dreams, ahead of rugby’s return to the Olympic fold after a 92-year hiatus in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, next August.
Big names
New Zealand’s World Cup winning centre Sonny Bill Williams will be at this weekend’s tournament as an observer, with apparent aspirations to try and break into the abridged format. And South African wing Bryan Habana is another top name interested in eventually making the transition — dependent on release from his club side Toulon.
“It would be unfair for us to keep selection for the Olympics closed only to sevens players,” said South Africa sevens coach Powell, who despite winning in Dubai here last year went onto to finish second behind Fiji in the world series.
“We need to open it up and give the opportunity to 15s players. We want to be successful as a squad and in doing that we need to get quality players into our system.
“I think every time we bring a 15s player in, training gets better and the competition is healthier. Without that competition, players slip into their comfort zones and believe they will be selected no matter what. That is what has happened in the past because no one is pushing them for their position.
Positive work ethic
“So, it’s great to have these 15s players in as it ups competition and I think it’s a challenge everyone accepts. Hougaard and De Jongh are fitting in nicely and bring a positive work ethic and are really keen to jump in and help wherever they can.
“But I think it’s also important to understand that, although it is rugby, it is two different games, and those guys will have to come in and prove themselves. We will use the series as a test to see if they can play sevens, because there’s a lot more space to cover and a whole new system and structure to buy into.”
While most teams will be looking to see which 15s players have the attributes to make the leap, defending series world champions Fiji are reluctant to change things too much.
“We are in a decent position where we were the best team last year but perhaps the other teams are thinking about what they have to do to get to the next level,” said Fiji sevens coach Ben Ryan.
“For the guys a bit further down, bringing in quality players like that, it’s worth the risk now and if it doesn’t work out then they can change things around for the Olympics.
“From our point of view and the wider game, I think it’s great to see these Test stars coming in as it adds an extra dimension to this year’s series and our boys can’t wait to go toe-to-toe with stars of the 15s game to show that sevens players in their own right are very good rugby players.”
Of Fiji 15s stars who could turn to sevens like; Josua Tuisova (Toulon), Leone Nakarawa (Glasgow), Semi Kunatani (Toulouse) and Samisoni Viriviri (Montauban), Ryan added:
“If 15s players are good enough in the series then we will stick them in our Olympic training squad and they’ll go toe-to-toe with our sevens boys.
“But the thing to remember is that although all the other teams are bringing 15s players in, our [sevens] boys on the island don’t earn very much [£6,000 a year, Dh33,156] and they live and breath sevens as it’s our national sport and they are immersed in it every day and that’s a big advantage for us.
“If we suddenly bring in guys who are earning half a million Fijian dollars it changes things dramatically. Some of those 15s guys will add value on the field but it’s the overall thing really and our boys are acutely aware of that.”
With sevens now in the Olympics, Ryan admitted it was less about individual events like Dubai and more about the bigger picture in Rio.
“I’d happily finish 12th in the World Series, so long as we win a gold medal in Rio,” said Ryan. “We’d suffer a lot of anguish if that was the case but that’s our number one goal, to win gold at the Olympics.
“All this is preparation, saying that, we want to defend our [World Series] title and we’ll play as well as we can, but there will be times when we will not put our best team out.
Pragmatic selections
“Last year we could just work towards London [the end of the World Series] and then pick up the pieces afterwards, but we can’t do that this year. So I think, along with the others we’ll be a lot more pragmatic in our selections this season, so that we are ready to go come Rio.”
Powell added that the fact his team won this event last year now meant nothing. “It will be interesting to see how everyone approaches this series. For us it’s a case of starting all over again,” he said. “Nothing we did in the past means we are going to be successful again. We can’t just pitch up and hope everything works out OK for us. Last year we started strong but the intensity dropped towards the end. This year we will be looking to keep that intensity going.”