With a year of unexpected inconsistency and injury now behind them, the Australian women are looking ahead in pursuit of their ultimate goal.
The dust has now well and truly settled on the 2014-15 Women’s Rugby Sevens World Series.
The season had its highs and lows for the Australian team: a team that began the year with not only an air of expectation but also the weight of it on the back of the previous series and hoping to ride the momentum of the unexpected success that 2013-14 produced, which now recognised as a watershed year for the development and growth of this team.
» Olympic rugby sevens – men’s schedule
» Olympic rugby sevens – women’s schedule
Despite performances in Canada and Atlanta, which the coach readily admits were below par, the Aussie women worked hard at consolidating and building on the achievements (some say over-achievements) of the previous year.
“Our theme for this season was growth and leadership: and that was the growth of players as professional athletes and trying to lead the way in terms of quality of play and style of play (and) I think we achieved that well.”
Walsh adds that while the results on the board did not meet the dizzying heights of last year, one of the main goals with regard to the team’s psychology was an aspect he believes they achieved well and takes as a big positive.
“To win in London and only narrowly lose in Amsterdam is a real credit to the girls and the belief that is now instilled in them that they can handle form lapses and disappointment, and they can bounce back and still perform and play well after a setback.”
“So overall, very positive but you know, there’s the next step now.”
And of course it wasn’t all in the hands of the Australian women – the competition was a lot tougher this year. What became apparent to anyone watching is that the growth of the sport, and the massive improvement in the quality of the rugby being played, has been significant.
With the introduction of Rugby Sevens to the Olympic agenda in Rio next year, the broader sporting community and relevant national organisations have decided to invest time and resources into the game at a representative level and the immediate results are an affirmation of this strategy almost across the board.
Tim Walsh is not surprised.
“You look at the athletes now and they’re third year IRB World Series players. They are seasoned professionals; they understand the game better, they’ve got more experience.”
So how will he approach the upcoming season as we head towards the big brass ring that is Rio 2016?
The Australian coach says it is now about adding to the quality and depth of this successful squad. A succession plan to cater for imminent injuries must always be a part of the strategy and, with the increasing workload of the next 15 months, expansion and valuable on-field experience is the main focus.
While the Olympics are at the fore of everyone’s thinking, there will not be any undervaluing of the 2015-16 World Series says Walsh.
“I think it will be as serious as any other, there’s no question, everyone wants to win. It’s a balancing act as well for all the countries to come up with the right formula for having the depth, being in form, winning the World Series and peaking at the Olympics. I think it will be a very tactical and interesting season.”
In preparation for the next journey, the Women’s Sevens program will go through a solid pre-season with a spread of local and regional domestic tournaments as well as combined training camps with visiting teams from Japan and Canada.
October’s Central Coast Sevens (CC7s) is the big tournament domestically as a strong test of the players’ readiness for the impending start to the World Series in Dubai in December.
More immediately though, the Aussie women are heading north to neighbouring Papua New Guinea, the host of the 2015 Pacific Games – the major Pacific sporting event every four years that brings all the Pacific nations together competing in a range of sports in preparation for impending Olympic competition.
For the first time, Australia and New Zealand have been invited to participate in a handful of selected sports, Rugby Sevens being one.
The Australian women will be competing against their Oceania rivals, with the most significant challenge expected to come from the reigning Pacific Games champions, the Fijiana team, now ranked eighth in the world.
The group Tim Walsh is taking to Port Moresby will not be the full World Series team but a group consisting of broader squad members who have played limited tournaments and players looking to put their hands up for contracts and selection.
It will be captained by veteran 27-year-old Nicole Beck, who has been given the additional honour of being the Australian team’s flag bearer at the Pacific Games Opening Ceremony on July 4.
While he is looking forward to a full and busy pre-season, Walsh knows that adding to the excitement of the year to come is the growing awareness in Australia particularly, of the sport of Rugby Sevens and of the Women’s success in it. But with this growing awareness comes expectation.
“We’re the most successful Australian rugby team in Australia for the second year running now. People are becoming a little more aware of us and the pressure that is put on us now to win a medal – an Olympic medal – is probably the most pressure you could ever have. The pressure of performing and winning a medal as a landmark Australian team is certainly there. It is what everyone wants to do and everyone’s goal.”
But Tim Walsh is a strong believer in the theory of process – session by session, game by game – to be effective in achieving their set goals.
With an average age of 22 years, the success this young team has already achieved is remarkable and bodes well for the future growth of the sport but, more importantly, should now be widely acknowledged within the Australian sporting landscape.
With the Olympics around the corner, the publicity machine at the ARU is slowly but surely shifting through the gears in promoting of the strong credentials this team already has to represent Australia at the highest level on the world stage.
As the old cliché says – Watch this space!
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