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Opinion
Everyone can relax. This will be the last rugby sevens article for a while. But it is long.
What did we get from Dubai, Malaga and now Seville?
The numbers. The Aussie men tallied a fifth, second, fourth and a second. The Aussie women tallied three firsts and a third.
You would have to say that it has been a good period for both squads. Most importantly it gave these teams – which are predominantly made up of inexperienced youngsters – the chance to play multiple matches over a couple of weeks.
Plus it provided an opportunity for the coaches to have some time in the saddle after the swap.
Non-rugby take outs
The First Nations jerseys are pretty special, although I am surprised that there has been no mention in the mainstream media that the Aussie sevens women are the first women’s national sports team to have their own jersey. It is just odd.
Also, I had forgotten how nice sangria is, with ice and slices of orange on a hot day in summer.
Aussie men
While no doubt gutted to come second in Seville, coach John Manenti and his team can be pretty pleased with their progress over the last couple of weeks and to finish second to the Blitzboks is no shame.
The South African team are just on a different playing planet. In the final, the Aussie sevens men needed everything to go right for them.
It started well. They grabbed an early lead, and held the Boks to just on halftime. But in the second half, there were a couple of errors and two unfortunate yellow cards, plus the Boks’ relentless defensive pressure. That was the ball game as the Boks were able to run in a few tries.
While they look like they are enjoying themselves as a team playing footy, I did note in the post-final photos with their silver medals there were not any smiles.
(Photo by Roger Sedres/Gallo Images/Getty Images)
The addition of 30-year-old Chris Kurandrani has been terrific. A big body and old head is always of value.
The other more experienced players Henry Hutchison, Josh Turner and Maurice Longbottom constantly show their importance to the team.
In particular, Longbottom’s role seems to have changed a bit to now being an impact player towards the end of the first half. His skills at pace and passing are a pleasure to watch.
As I have mentioned before, keep an eye out for Ben Dowling, Corey Toole and Nathan Lawson, who are in the Super Rugby academies.
Toole gets a lot of the attention because of his speed and try-scoring ability but he is more than that. He was the impact player of both Spanish tournaments.
For a 20-year-old, Dietrich Roache continues to show so much confidence and he plays way above his years.
Henry Paterson, who is one of the six from the Olympics and from Sydney club land, also impressed with what he brought to the team when he came on.
In summary, the men’s team has made progress and is competitive. It will also be interesting to keep an eye on some of the youngsters’ development in their Super Rugby clubs.
Aussie women
Three tournament wins out of four is an outstanding achievement. In terms of the Seville final, it was odd the women didn’t seem to be ready for the Irish to rattle them again.
It was similar to the game in Malaga where the Aussie women were under the pump but did enough to get over the line.
Over the last four tournaments, the women have played well, with some terrific individual performances. I am just not sure they have progressed too much as a team.
The last play to win the final was a cracker. With time up, the Irish had a scrum feed. Sariah Paki struck for the ball to get Australia the ball. Dom Du Doit made a great run but didn’t have the legs and was cut down by an Irish player, who was quickly over the ball for the pilfer.
Charlotte Caslick flew in with a copy-book clean out and retained the ball. Faith Nathan scored. It was full time. World Rugby have it up as the impact moment.
As a team, they still have issues against the more physical and bigger sides. When they can play their possession game and execute their plays, all is fine.
No doubt Caslick is still the stand-out player of the team. However, by her normally high standards, she was not as dominant in the Spanish tournaments as she was in Dubai.
Comparing Dubai to the Spanish tournaments, her tackle numbers have increased significantly and her line breaks dropped off too. I am not sure what this is the result of. Maybe it is a different game plan to give the youngsters more responsibility.
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
Seville confirmed Sharni Williams is critical to the team, noting the one tournament they didn’t win – Malaga – Williams was unavailable.
Dom Du Toit and Sariah Paki are playing more significant roles in the substitution rotation off the bench during game. Du Toit was the player of the final.
The other standouts are Faith Nathan and Alysia Lefau-Fakaosilea, both of whom play key roles in both attack and defence.
Both are fierce in defence. Nathan has real speed to finish off a try and Lefau-Fakaosilea has the strength to break a tackle and offload.
Maddison Levi has added another dimension to the team and is developing with each game she plays. Like Caslick, captain Demi Hayes who was on fire in Dubai. She was a bit off in Spain and not so dominant.
Also, Lily Dick really impressed in the Dubai tournaments, but did not get the minutes in Spain.
As an aside, at times coach Tim Walsh had an interesting approach at halftime whereby he pulled aside Caslick and captain Hayes, downloaded his message and they then went to the team huddle and communicated it.
Overall, you could see the growth in confidence of the youngsters over the last four tournaments with a number of them now taking the initiative to tap and go on a penalty and not leave it to Caslick all the time.
Also, there was a bit of good PR for the teams and Australian rugby on social media with video and photos put up by some of the locals and tournament organisers of the Australian players helping out after the medal presentation, picking up the confetti and streamers. Well done to both teams.
Now both teams have a break for a couple of months off, so it is time to finish off the sangria and prepare for Super Rugby.
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.