The Australian men’s sevens squad selection has been announced for the first two rounds of the 2016-2017 HSBC Men’s World Series which gets underway in Dubai on Friday.
Coach Andy Friend has picked a 13-man squad, catering for the two-tournament fortnight with Cape Town following on from Dubai.
The men’s series has twice as many tournaments as the women’s with ten rounds
over six months visiting five continents across the globe. The travelling squads generally consist of 13-14 players to allow for injury and attrition as the tournaments are scheduled in pairs.
Despite finishing fourth in the last World Series, the Aussie coach has drawn a line under the past and stated the squad is now in a rebuilding phase and his goal is to finish Top eight in this series.
There are five World Series debutants on the list but all have performed well in recent outings including at the Central Coast Sevens and Oceania Championship tournaments.
Sam Myers has been given the opportunity to lead the team as tournament captain in Dubai, adding to his growth and development as a key player, and will no doubt benefit from the support on tour of former long-serving captain Ed Jenkins.
Newly appointed captain Lewis Holland has had to take a broader leadership role due to his long-term leg injury – although he won’t be far away from the action having been given a coaching opportunity with the Australian Development side, which will be taking part in an invitational competition in Dubai.
The core of experienced players will be supported by the proven and explosive talent of young Henry Hutchison and by the addition of bright prospects for future development of the squad such as Sam Caslick, Charlie Taylor and Simon Kennewell.
While Caslick will no doubt have to endure the initial constant reference to being ‘the brother of Charlotte’, he should eventually create his own place in the big picture of Aussie Sevens as is warranted by his talent and his selection for the opening World Series rounds.
Andy Friend may appear to some to be underestimating the team’s potential when he talks of the rankings goal, but his realistic approach to the season ahead perhaps pre-empts the possibility of unrealistic expectations from both the ARU and a public buoyed by a new awareness of sevens through the success of the Aussie women.
Following the Olympics, there have been many significant coaching and player changes in the ranks of the world’s top Sevens teams which has created both anticipation and uncertainty as to what complexion the new season and the tournament results will produce.
It is perhaps the most open series yet in terms of emerging talent and developing nations with a very strong sign leading up to the Olympics that the gap between the traditional top four or five teams and the rest is closing rapidly.
As for the imminent contest in Dubai, Australia tops the Pool D list and will be sharing Day One competition with Kenya, France and Japan, making this an imposing group – although none of the four pools look to be an easy proposition.
While Fiji will still be the current yard-stick by which all teams take their measure, it will be interesting to see what difference, if any, a new coach has made in the short period since the Rio Olympics. Add to that the departure of legendary coach Sir Gordon Tietjens from the All Blacks Sevens equation and the anticipation leading into next weekend’s tournament just grows.
It is a new era for sevens, no more so than in Australia, and the men’s team have a whole new page to write on for the annals of Australian rugby.
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