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‘I want it really bad’: Aussie Kaitlin Shave hungry for more after SVNS debut
Walking down the tunnel at Dubai’s The Sevens Stadium with a gleaming smile on her face, debutant Kaitlin Shave was one of the last players to arrive at Australia’s team huddle on Saturday morning.
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At just 22 years of age, the former high school sprint champion had realised a long-lasting dream by running out in the coveted green and gold jersey on the international SVNS stage.
Shave joined her teammates in the post-match debrief at Australia’s dominant 39-nil win over Brazil, and it seemed all business as usual until the end of the review.
With a deafening cheer, the Aussies made sure to celebrate Shave and the endless commitment that she’d shown to make this dream a reality. Captain Charlotte Caslick was the last one to congratulate the rising star before she prepared for an interview with RugbyPass.
With that very same smile still draped across her face, Shave was visibly proud, delighted and even “relieved” after becoming the latest Australian to represent the women’s sevens side.
“I don’t think I can put it into words. I’m so happy, I’m so relieved,” Shave said.
“(For) the girls to get around me like that, it’s just such a special feeling and it’s such a special team and I love all the girls, we have such a great sisterhood so it’s just the best feeling.
“Very nervous having a debut – making sure you don’t want to drop the ball or anything. I just feel like I’m feeling a bit more calm now after that.”
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Shave has seemed destined for more for quite some time, but that doesn’t mean the “journey” has been easy or simple. There has been “lots of highs and a lot of low lows” on the road to the top.
Following injuries to vice-captain Demi Hayes and veteran Sharni Williams earlier this year, Shave was picked in the touring squad for the Vancouver sevens – but the Queenslander didn’t play.
Selected as the 13th player in the Aussies’ squad, the speedster was made to wait that little bit longer for international honours.
“I feel like it’s been such a long journey,” Shave added. “This is my dream and I thought I’ve just got to keep pushing, keep trying, give it my all and just see what the result is.
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“When I was 13th in Vancouver it was still really special to me. Even being considered to be taken away I was just happy to be there. Even though I didn’t play it was still a great opportunity and experience for me.”
When the Aussies started their preseason quite some time ago, Shave was outside of the main group. They trained and trained without Shave, who was called in later ahead of international tournaments.
Shave clearly did enough to impress coach Tim Walsh and the rest of the selectors. But now that she’s in the mix to star the SVNS season, Shave won’t want to let that go.
While the debutant is still yet to make the permanent move to Sydney, Shave appeared incredibly hungry, desperate and passionate about doing everything possible to stay in the top squad.
“I wasn’t really part of the girls during the start of their pre-season. At the start of the year I was in Japan for a few months and then I came back,” Shave explained.
“When the girls moved from pre-season, just training, to more pre-season comps and tournaments against other teams is when I started joining in.
“After a few trips away I got put into the main squad for a few games and then back into the A-squad. I guess being in the 12, I got the opportunity to play with the main squad, but I still wasn’t sure where I was gonna be.
“Everyone wants to be in the main squad – the team that travels away. I’ve just got to keep working hard, I want it really bad.
“Hopefully it shows in my training and out on the field.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Kok will become a fan favourite
1 Go to commentsI am really looking forward to Leigh Halfpenny playing his first Super rugby game for the Crusaders Playing a long side his former Welsh and Scarlets team mate Johnny McNicoll.Johnny has been playing great, back in a Crusaders jersey.The attack has strengthened big time. Also looking forward to David Havili at 10. David is a class act, it also allows Dallas McLeod to remain at 12. A good thing.
1 Go to commentsIf he had stopped insisting on playing in the backrow, instead of wing, where everyone told him he should, he would have been a Bok years ago….
11 Go to comments‘Salads don’t win scrums’ 😂 I love that.
19 Go to commentsCan’t wait for the article that talks about misogyny in Ireland. Somehow.
16 Go to commentsI would like to see a rule change, when the attacking team is held up over the try line, by allowing the defensive team to restart a goal line drop out releases the pressure for the defensive team, but what if the attacking team had to restart a tap 5m out from the defensive team it gives the attacking team to apply more pressure, there are endless options for the attacking side and it will keep the fans in suspence.
2 Go to commentsLess modern South African males predictably triggered.
16 Go to commentsMy heart is with Quins, but the head is convinced Toulouse have too much. Ntamack is back, his timing and wisdom has been missed.
1 Go to commentsWow, what a starting line up for the Sharks) Tasty up front,kremer vs Tshituka or venter …fiery ,,Lavannini ,,will he knobble etzebeth? Biggest game for belleau?
1 Go to commentsIt was rubbish to watch, Blues weren’t even present. Did what they had to do, nothing more. Should be better next week against canes.
1 Go to commentsI’ve just noticed that this match has an all-French refereeing team. Surely a game like this ought to have a neutral ref? Although looking at the BBC preview of the Saints game, Raynal is also down as reffing that - so there may be some confusion about who is reffing what.
1 Go to commentsIf Havili can play anywhere in the back line, why not first 5. #10.
11 Go to commentsThe dressing room had already left for their summer break before they ran out in Dublin that year, and that’s on the coach. Franco Smith has undoubtedly made progress, particularly their maul, developing squad players and increasing squad depth. And against a very tight budget too. That said they were too lightweight last year and got found out against both Toulon and Munster in consecutive games. Better this season so far but they’ve developed something of a slow start habit occasionally, most notably losing at home to Northampton who played them at their own game. Play offs will ultimately show whether there has been tangible progress on last year, or not…!
2 Go to commentsAustralian Rugby has been a disaster, by not incorporating learning from previous successful campaigns. QLD Reds 2011 - Waratahs 2014. Players, coaches and administrators appoint there representatives for scheduled meetings, organisation’s agreement’s assessments and correspondence. This why a unified Rugby Union under one entity works. Every Rugby nation has taken that path. Was most difficult in the Northern hemisphere with over 100 years of club rugby before the game become professional. Took a lot of humility for those unions to eventually work together.
7 Go to commentsThough Wilson’s sacking was pretty brutal, it wasn’t just down to that Leinster game; Glasgow had a lot of 2nd half collapses that season, in the URC and Europe, and only just scraped into the playoffs. Franco Smith has definitely been an improvement, some players are delivering far more than they did under Wilson.
2 Go to commentsjesus - that front 5!
1 Go to commentsShould be an absolute cracker of a game! Will be great to see DuPont & Ntamack in tandem once again🔥
1 Go to commentsBest team ever…. To have played? These guys are still pressure chokers. Came nowhere when it counted. What a joke
84 Go to commentsMusk defends anonymous terrorism, fascism, threats against individuals and children etc etc But a Rugby club account….lock ‘em up!!!
2 Go to commentsActually the era defining moment came a few years earlier. February 2002 to be precise, when Michael D Higgins as finance minister at the time introduced his sports persons tax relief bill to the dial. As the politicians of the day stated “It seems to be another daft K Club frolic born in Kildare amongst the well-paid professional jockeys with whom the Minister plays golf” and that the scheme represented “a savage uncaring vision of Ireland and one that should be condemned”. The irfu and Leinster would be nowhere near the position they are in today without this key component of the finances.
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