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Retiring Rodwell decides his future on same day Fiji storm to London success
Long-serving England men’s sevens player James Rodwell will join the coaching team once he retires at the end of the season.
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The 34-year-old has been a player-coach throughout the 2018/19 season and earlier this month announced he was going to retire from playing this summer.
He featured at the 2019 HSBC London Sevens where he was awarded the UL Mark of Excellence award for the achievements throughout his career, including an all-time record 92 HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series appearances and a record 69 consecutive tournaments.
“I’m really excited by the opportunity to pass on that knowledge on a full-time basis,” said Rodwell.
“I can really concentrate fully on that, develop the young guys and girls coming through who have shown a lot of potential – I’m really looking forward to the opportunity.”
92 tournaments in total, the most ever on the world series.
He once played in 69 tournaments on the bounce.
He retires at the end of the series.@James_Rodwell is the recipient of the UL Mark of Excellence award for the #London7s @ULdialogue pic.twitter.com/vqj558u8m6
— HSBC SVNS (@SVNSSeries) May 26, 2019
Head of England Sevens Simon Amor was also pleased with the appointment of keeping Rodwell with the England set-up. “We’re delighted that James is going to be joining the sevens programme solely as a coach,” he said.
“He’ll be focusing on the kick-offs, the set pieces and the aerials supporting the men and women players – we’re very lucky to have that experience there.
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“He’s had that player-coach role this year and he had to get that balance right but he’s done an amazing job trying to still keep fit so he can deliver in the tournaments.
All the emotion.
Get up close with @fijirugby after their win at the #London7s pic.twitter.com/unBwSFubDV
— HSBC SVNS (@SVNSSeries) May 26, 2019
“For him to just hang up his boots and just focus on the coaching, as it is a real art coaching, I’m sure he’ll be fantastic for both the men’s and women’s programmes.”
Rodwell’s final appearance as a player will come at next weekend’s season-ending leg in Paris. That follows the England leg at Twickenham that was won on Sunday by Fiji, who hammered Australia 43-7 in final.
CHAMPIONS!
Fiji go back-to-back at the #London7s and go top of the #HSBC7s heading into the final leg next week in Paris pic.twitter.com/hOhlJxG6Jj
— HSBC SVNS (@SVNSSeries) May 26, 2019
That victory enabled Fiji to take over at top of series standings – two points clear of USA with one round remaining.
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England lie in fifth following a disappointing weekend that culminated in a 29-14 defeat to Japan in the 13th place play-off.
WATCH: Jim Hamilton discusses Trae Williams, the Australian sprinter turned sevens player with a set of legs that look like they are photoshopped
Comments on RugbyPass
Dagg is still trying to get enough headlines to make himself relevant enough to get a job. The Crusaders went back to square one at all levels. Shelve this season and nail the next one.
4 Go to commentsHe was in such great form. Sad for him but only a short term injury and it will be great to see him back for the finals.
1 Go to commentsAfter their 5/0 start, I had the Crusaders to finish Top 4 only…they lost the plot in Perth but will reload and back themselves vs 4th placed Rebels…
3 Go to commentsBoth nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
3 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
3 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
38 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to comments