The Deans era should be Sevens heaven

 
Andrew Logan Columnist

By , 10 Jun 2008 Andrew Logan is a Roar Expert

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Australia’s James O’Connor, left is tackled at the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

It was a throwaway line from Nathan Sharpe after an early training session with new Wallabies coach Robbie Deans that got me excited.

Describing Deans’ early philosophy as the coach had outlined it to the players, Sharpe said, “One of the most pleasing things for all the guys is that he wants us to play what’s in front of us”.

“So rather than being really structured and, I guess, oriented to playing predetermined phases, he wants guys in the right position. Make decisions and then back yourself.”

This is without doubt a trait that has been missing in Australian rugby in recent years – the ability for players to back themselves in tight situations, and to make tough decisions on the spot and carry them through.

It is also clear from Deans’ tenure at the Crusaders that he places high value on basic skills: the catch, the pass, the tackle and the breakdown contest. Several young Australian players are limited in one or more of these areas, and lack the game time necessary to develop the skills in pressure situations.

Luckily for the Wallabies and their new coach, the perfect development vehicle exists for giving young players high pressure international rugby experience in front of big crowds, in all different parts of the world.

The IRB Sevens circuit, despite being one of the rugby world’s premier competitions, has been given little support by the ARU in recent years, but the signs are there that Sevens in Australia may be about to undergo something of a rejuvenation.

In mid-March John O’Neill said the ARU would look at their Sevens strategy at their May board meeting: “At the moment, we are a sort of bit half pregnant, I guess. But we don’t like coming eighth in competitions,” he said.

Sevens is the ideal complement to the Deans-led Wallabies, particularly as it is no longer a scrambling contest to find out who has the fastest sprinters, but a highly strategic and physical game of punch and counter-punch.

Modern Sevens rugby demands not only extremely high levels of fitness, but precise handling, the ability to make hard one-on-one tackles and excellent decision making.

If the skills need to be spot on, then the mental focus required to succeed in the tournament format of Sevens is total. A player may play up to 6 games a weekend, often having to tough it out through injury and needing to quickly refocus if they have a bad game.

Coaches already recognise the benefits of developing players playing Sevens.

A recent IRB survey showed the top skill areas that coaches believed were developed by playing Sevens. The areas were: learning to operate in space; improved defensive and attack qualities; improved work rate due to higher fitness levels; better ball retention; and (in a view beautifully aligned with the Deans philosophy) reading the play and playing what is in front of them.

Players can sometimes hide or be protected by their teammates in fifteens rugby.

In Sevens, there is no such luxury. A moments lapse in concentration, a half-hearted tackle, or a poor pass often lead to a turnover or an opposition break, and more often than not, a try is the result.

Because of this, Sevens can lead to heartbreak, as the Australian team found out in London this year against Fiji.

Leading 10-7 with less than two minutes on the clock, the Aussies took a rushed tap, threw a poor pass and conceded a turnover inside the Fijian 22. The Fijians went 75 metres and scored at the other end of the field, condemning the brave Australians to a 12-10 loss.

A win would have seen them competing with the top 8 in the Cup rounds. The loss sent them crashing to the Bowl competition where their best possible tournament finish was a rank of 9th.

This knife edge pressure is recognised by coaches as being of huge benefit to developing players.

IRB research also shows that unions with strong sevens programs like the fact that young players are given an opportunity to participate in a squad environment that takes them traveling, living with their team mates, training, and applying the ethos of rugby away from their home environment.

Not only that, developing players are also introduced to a wide range of new situations to deal with on and off the playing field such as unfamiliar refereeing interpretations, disciplinary procedures at IRB level and best practice doping procedures.

And of course, throughout the IRB Sevens World Series, there are a variety of crowds of up to 45,000 people, ensuring that younger players experience high pressure rugby in heavily charged atmospheres.

So where to from here for Australian sevens rugby?

A good first step would be to ensure that the best possible players are available for next year’s 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens. This would mean treating the Sevens like any other national team, and placing it clearly above Super 14 on the agenda.

If the IRB carry through some mooted changes in the schedule, the Sevens World Series would be over after the Hong Kong/Adelaide leg in March anyway, so far from being a hindrance to the Super 14 franchises, it may actually become a vital preparation tool for young aspirants.

Another potential step would be to create a separate Sevens business unit or franchise, allowing the Sevens to contract some of their own players as Sevens specialists, and perhaps more importantly, strike their own unique sponsorship deals.

There is little doubt that Sevens costs the ARU a significant amount whilst returning little in the way of cashflow, so anything which would reduce the financial pressure on the union would go a long way. Private equity could be a boon to the Sevens program.

A final left field solution might be to strike a partnership deal with the NRL and field a joint Sevens outfit, or at least take a few league players into the team.

The Sevens World Series will eventually fall about 80 percent outside the league season anyway, and it would allow league players to access a genuine international contest which is not available in their sport.

The travel and big match experience would be unique for the leaguies, and with their proven skills, high levels of fitness and one-on-one defence, they would be tailor made for rugby Sevens.

Whatever the future, the fact is that Australian rugby players are about to freed to “play what’s in front of them”. For developing players, there is no better way to learn how to do that on the big stage than Sevens.

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