• • Facebook
  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • Technorati
  • Reddit
  • Stumble Upon
  • Furl

by Robin Heymann

History will be made in three days time when the first Rugby World Cup Sevens to feature a women’s competition running alongside the traditional men’s event kicks off at ‘The Sevens’ in Dubai. In what undoubtedly heralds one of the biggest landmarks that the women’s game has ever seen, 16 sides have survived a gruelling qualification process for the game’s pièce de résistance.

Making the transition

With women’s rugby sevens in it’s infancy it is particularly interesting to note the different methods that have been employed by the various nations to mould the players into a sevens mindset.

Mike Friday coached England’s men’s team from 2003-2006, successfully guiding them to Silver in the Commonwealth Games and a four successive triumphs in Hong Kong. For the last two years, Friday has chosen to don a suit and re-enter the corporate world with property advisors DTZ. But when the chance came to offer some assistance with England's women at this World Cup, he jumped at it, such is his love for the game. Ironically the former master is now assisting the former pupil with Simon Amor installed as England Coach - with Friday acting as his mentor. So what does the man who had his foot in both camps see as fundamental differences between men’s international sevens and the women's?

"A key difference is that female players on the whole are amateurs. They work all day and sacrifice so much of their lives for their training and playing in the evenings and at weekends,” said Friday.

“For the men, sevens is fundamentally a development tool which is different to the women’s programme where we have a pick of all the talent pool and as such you will see a lot of established internationals playing in the sevens.”

Favourites

Under the stewardship of former England legend Simon Amor, England have deservedly taken the heavy tag of being favourites. They enjoyed the perfect preparation in San Diego going unbeaten, getting the better of major rivals USA in the final by virtue of a ‘golden try’ from Heather Fisher.

"We left it very late and it must have been pretty exciting for the spectators, but my heart was certainly in my mouth there at the end," said captain Sue Day.

"I quite like that we've been given that tag. It's on the basis of a few wins at different tournaments but we haven't really played New Zealand, we haven't played Australia at all, so who knows quite how good they'll be.

“Being favourites is just a tag really. We have the potential to win this tournament absolutely and the girls are hugely focused in the processes to achieve that”, added Friday.

On paper there is healthy blend of experience in the form of Sue Day and veteran Joe Yapp, brute power in Maggie Alphonsi, and the lightening speed of Katherine Merchant, England have all the required ingredients. But in scraping the surface Friday gives an insight into what makes this team tick.

“Their work-rate is first class as is their game understanding and awareness. Together with the mental toughness that has been bred through their close wins in San Diego they are also now developing a certain humble self confidence.

“They will need all this when coming up against Australia and New Zealand, who I think are our biggest threat, and don’t forget the USA,” added Friday.

Australasian factor

The New Zealand squad, as one might expect, will be genuine contenders and are the dominant force in the 15-a-side game having won the last three World Cups. Similarly to the England Kiwi coach Darryl Suasua has picked the brains of his nation's men’s team and thus has the has called upon the master coach himself - Gordon Tietjens – for some invaluable advice. It was also interesting to see Simon Amor locked in a tête-à-tête with Tietjens on the sidelines in San Diego, in what is obviously the most sensible route to leverage ideas and knowledge for the women.

Like England their passage has been a smooth one to Dubai, the only blotch on their record being a loss during the Oceania qualifying tournament final to Australia in Samoa last year.

That particular victory has helped the Aussies secure the number two seed spot for Dubai, and they could arguably lay claim to be the most naturally gifted footballers in the competition. This is largely due to the drafting in of specialist touch footballers as a way of tackling sevens and the hiring of Australian men’s ‘touchie’ Jason Stanton as coach. Not only has this bought the flair and creativity that makes this sport so easy on the eye, it has spawned a positive buzz and confidence in the camp stemming from Australia’s hugely successful touch format, which has filtered through to the other players. Look out for the delightfully named dancing feet of Bo De la Cruz – widely considered to be the best ‘touchie’ in the world. It will be a fascinating prospect indeed to see how this approach stands up to the more physical and confrontational sides like the USA.

With the US girls long at the forefront of the women’s rugby how have they adapted to the format? From an athletic point of view the Eagles possess the most superior athletes dovetailed with a highly charged aggressive defence in a similar vein to how England like to operate.

“We have played them on numerous occasions now and they are strong, fit and tough to break down”, added Day.

Captain Christy Riggenberg will be hoping to return to the winning form which saw them sweep all before them to claim the title in Hong Kong, but have ultimately came up short in Amsterdam, NAWIRA, and Dubai.

Truly global

With upsets and unpredictability galore in the Men’s Sevens Series thus far in 08/09 who are the dark horses that will upset the big gun’s applecart?

“Well the Russians surprised everyone at the Euros last Summer, and I can’t help feeling Canada and France are going to have some sway too,” said Friday.

One nation that has seemed to keep under the radar is Spain. Despite being a smaller rugby nation with a small talent pool, Friday thinks they have shock potential. “They have been getting some results in the fifteens and now have a core of 7 or 8 who I feel are highly talented. Holland is another, they have all the capabilities, especially with sevens being a big sport in Holland”.

And what about Brazil? Far and away South America’s leading nation that have now claimed five consecutive CONSUR Sevens title and are not to be underestimated.

A fundamental caveat for Rugby Sevens to get the green Olympic light is the global inclusiveness and the increased number of potential medal-winning nations that it feels could be bought in. Although narrowly losing out to Japan and China in qualification, Kazakhstan did wonders in building rugby’s profile in the country. The darlings of the women’s competition have to be Uganda. The Lady Cranes, as they have been affectionately penned, have become the first Ugandan team to qualify for a World Cup at senior level and have adopted the ‘dare to dream’ slogan as their motto for Dubai. Similarly to the men it’s this openness in sevens which many feel epitomises the Olympic mantra.

Quantum Olympic leap

“The continued investment and development in the women’s game is paramount especially if we want rugby to become an Olympic Sport – it then becomes multi-gender,” said Friday.

“If we can have a successful inaugural Women’s Rugby Sevens alongside an already successful Men’s series it’s the perfect shop window for the IOC to come and see what a global sport sevens is from powerhouses like New Zealand to developing and junior nations such as Uganda.”

Friday is hopeful that the IRB continue to support the Women’s Game to give it every opportunity taking the sport to a completely different level. One can only imagine the impact inclusion would have on nations such as China and Russia, with huge resources and potential for crossover of athletes who originally might not have wanted to follow the rugby path but cannot refuse the dangling golden carrot of Olympic glory.

‘There is so much potential – it could be absolutely amazing.”

Hear hear!