Dual international Michael O’Connor has vowed to up Australia’s focus in rugby’s shortened game after being appointed national sevens coach.
O’Connor’s appointment today, replacing the Cardiff-bound Bill Millard, comes with the Australian Rugby Union indicating it will lift the importance of its sevens program.
While the Wallabies have consistently sat in the top-three in the world in the traditional 15-man game in the past decade, Australia’s performances on the sevens stage have been second rate.
Selecting rising club players who have rarely gone on to higher honours, Australia’s best finish in the International Rugby Board’s sevens world series in the past five years was a mere sixth in 2004-05.
O’Connor, a sevens maestro in the early 1980s and a former ARU talent scout, said he intended utilising the program as a major development tool, quickly fast-tracking players through to Super 14 level.
“Sevens is the best form of talent identification in Australian Rugby Union and we really need to utilise it to its full potential,” said O’Connor.
“As a former sevens player I know what a great arena it is for skills development and it is the ideal testing environment for judging a player’s skill and ability under pressure.
“Not only does sevens improve skills, it gives young players a tremendous opportunity to experience touring conditions and benchmark themselves against players around the world.”
ARU high performance manager David Nucifora said O’Connor’s experience would better assist in creating a pathway for uncontracted sevens players to become fulltime professionals.
“We want to lift the importance of where sevens sits in the Australian Rugby pathway and bringing a person of Michael’s stature in the game on board will help lift the profile of the program,” Nucifora said.
O’Connor, a Test selector in 2006 and 2007, will start his new job with selection trials in Brisbane and Sydney this month before picking a squad for the first round of the 2008/09 World Series in Dubai in late November.
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