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Rugby sevens at the Rio Olympics has been a topic for discussion lately.
On the one hand, we’ve just seen some of the major teams in action at the Commonwealth Games, and, separately, there’s been a new discussion on eligibility as IOC rules will give a window of opportunity for some players to switch national allegiance.
Rumbling along in the background, however, is the question of what place sevens has in rugby. The IRB want to use the Olympics as a chance to showcase the sport as a whole, and CEO Brett Gosper has called on star players to make themselves available.
However, there is some disagreement within the game about whether star players in the fifteen-man code make the best sevens players. Even when a player has all the attributes – or has excelled at sevens in the past – some doubt whether you can just drop back into a version for rugby which has become increasingly specialised.
Two men with extensive experience in sevens recently discussed the matter in The Rugby Paper.
Joe Lydon was a member of the Wigan rugby league club who, like many of his team mates, went on to a coaching career in union. He ran England sevens before handing over to Mike Friday. Friday also went on to coach Kenya and is now linked with the USA sevens side.
They have very different views on bringing in star players from fifteens. Here’s Lydon: “If I had a team of sevens specialists I would back them to beat the team of fifteens all-stars every time. I think the fifteens team would be good to watch, but they wouldn’t win anything.”
Friday responds: “I disagree. It’s a ten-week conversion from a conditioning point of view and after that the fifteens stars could perform. It’s a bold statement to say they couldn’t (meet the sevens requirements) if they wanted to. I’d say that if you put the best sevens specialists from England, Scotland and Wales, and put them against a team of international fifteens stars with sevens experience after a ten-week conversion course, then my money would be on the international stars nine times out of ten.”
Friday does qualify his stance a little. however. He thinks the raw skill of the star players would be best complement by a couple of specialist sevens playmakers. The article is worth a look, even though it focuses primarily on the challenge of how to put together a GB sevens team.
Friday points to New Zealand as an example of a side which has successfully brought players back to sevens and he thinks there are some exceptional talents who can thrive with little experience.
It won’t come as much of a surprise to learn that he believes Israel Folau is just such a player. To back up his case, he notes that Chris Latham was a stand out player in the 2006 Commonwealth Games despite never having played sevens before.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.