'What you're seeing now are players doing incredibly well on the sevens series and then getting picked up by 15s'
Simon Amor believes the World Cup in Japan will prove that sevens is a crucial pathway for outstanding young players. New Zealand, South Africa, Fiji, England and the USA are amongst the teams that will feature attacking talent hailing from the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series.
The profile of shorter rugby format has been significantly enhanced by the introduction of the sport to the Olympic Games, with Fiji’s triumph in Rio in 2016 ging their players the chance to break into the 15-a-side set-up.
Now Amor, the England sevens head coach, is delighted that Ruaridh McConnochie has been selected in the England World Cup squad for Japan, a development that will add further focussed attention on the talent being delivered by the sevens series.
Amor guided Britain to silver in Rio with a squad that included McConnochie, along with Scotland centre Mark Bennett, Wasps wing Marcus Watson, Harlequins Ollie Lindsay Hague and Scarlets flanker James Davies, who won three Wales caps in 2018 following his sevens success.
Fiji’s World Cup squad is set to feature Rio gold medal winners Semi Kunatani, Leone Nakawara, Vili Mata and Josh Tuisova, and the Springboks have Kwagga Smith and Cheslin Kolbe.
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USA boss Gary Gold has included the sevens trio of Madison Hughes, Ben Pinkelman and Martin Iosefo in the Pacific Nations Cup matches, with New Zealand featuring former sevens teenage sensation Rieko Ioane along with Ben Smith and Beauden Barrett, who previously played in the shortened game. All Black centre Sonny Bill Williams was included in the All Blacks sevens squad for the Rio games but was injured.
Amor said: “It clear there is so much exciting, dynamic, fast, powerful and explosive talent on the World Sevens Series where there is space to be exploited.
“It is then a case of can the players transfer that into a much more cluttered 15s pitch? What you are seeing now are players doing incredibly well on the sevens series and then getting picked up by 15s side.”
Here's a few shots from our game against Samoa last weekend, getting that W in the bag to close off the 2019 PNC.
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Fiji sevens coach Gareth Baber is confident of having the services of former sevens stars at the 2020 Games because it is much easier for Fijian players to swap back from the 15s game as they grow up playing with just six other team-mates on the pitch.
The same is not true for potential Britain players, however, who may not have ever played sevens in their careers. It is a problem Amor is only too aware of as he plans for the Tokyo Olympics.
“A young Fijian player who makes his debut in the World Series will have played 1,000s of hours playing sevens in his village while for a young English player joining the series it will be significantly less.
“Therefore, it’s a lot easier for someone who has grown up playing in the Islands to go back to sevens after 15s. What is a lot simpler is sevens into 15s and while there are learnings like kick positioning, beating a player one-on-one, evasion and single person rucks are what you deal with in sevens.
“It also depends how a team wants to play and Kwagga Smith has done well in the back row for the Springboks having been a world-class hooker in sevens.”
While Baber expects – contracts permitting – to bring back players from 15s for the Tokyo Olympics, Amor knows that is something he would struggle to achieve.
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“That will be a really challenging one because the players are with really ambitious clubs in Europe, in the Premiership, while there is also the Six Nations.
“I believe that going forward more youngsters will spend time in the sevens, developing their skills set and then transitioning back into 15s as much better players. With England, we identify players through the universities and also the club academies.
“At Rio, we took James Davies and he had a full 11 weeks in the programme and it took every one of those days to get him international sevens fit.
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“The build-up to Tokyo next year means there is only around seven weeks between the end of the World Sevens Series and the Olympics, which means that any nation that wants 15s guys will have to get them heavily involved in the series.
“Playing in the series, getting into an Olympic final with hundreds of millions watching around the world and 60,000 in the stadium – is that a good experience for the development of a young player? Of course, it is. That enables sevens to be a success in its own right and also develop outstanding players.”
WATCH: Part one of Operation Jaypan, the two-part RugbyPass documentary on what the fans can expect to experience at the World Cup in Japan
Comments on RugbyPass
Lets compare apples with apples. Lyon sent weak team the week before, but nobody raised an eyebrow. Give the South African teams a few years to build their depth, then you will be moaning that the teams are too strong.
41 Go to commentsDid footballs agents also perform the scout role at some time? I’m surprised more high profile players haven’t taken up the occupation, great way to remain in the game and use all that experience without really requiring a lot of specific expertise?
1 Go to commentsSuper rugby is struggling but that has little to do with sabbaticals. 1. Too many teams from Aust and NZ - should be 3 and 4 respectively, add in 2 from Japan, 1 possibly 2 from Argentina. 2. Inconsistent and poor refereeing, admittedly not restricted to Super rugby. Only one team was reffed at the breakdown in Reds v H’Landers match. Scrum penalty awarded in Canes v Drua when No 8 had the ball in the open with little defence nearby - ideal opportunity to play advantage. Coming back to Reds match - same scrum situation but ref played advantage - Landers made 10 yards and were penalised at the breakdown when the ref should have returned to scrum penalty. 3. Marketing is weak and losing ground to AFL and NRL. Playing 2 days compared with 4. 4. Scheduling is unattractive to family attendance. Have any franchises heard of Sundays 2pm?
10 Go to commentsAbsolutely..all they need is a chance in yhe playoffs and I bet all the other teams will be nervous…THEY KNOW HOW TO WIN IM THE PLAYOFFS..
2 Go to commentsI really hope he comes back and helps out with some coaching.
1 Go to commentsI think we are all just hoping that the Olympic 7s doesn’t suffer the same sad fate as the last RWC with the officials ruining the spectacle.
1 Go to commentsPersonally, I’ve lost the will to even be bothered about the RFU, the structure, the participants. It’s all a sham. I now simply enjoy getting a group of friends together to go and watch a few games a year in different locations (including Europe, the championship, etc). I feel extremely sorry for the real fans of these clubs who are constantly ignored by the RFU and other administrators. I feel especially sorry for the fans of clubs in the Championship who have had considerable central funding stripped away and are then expected to just take whatever the RFU put to them. Its all a sham, especially if the failed clubs are allowed to return.
9 Go to commentsI’m guessing Carl Hayman would have preferred to have stayed in NZ with benefit of hindsight. Up north there is the expectation to play twice as many games with far less ‘player management’ protocols that Paul is now criticising. Less playing through concussions means longer, healthier, careers. Carter used as the eg here by Paul, his sabbatical allowed him to play until age 37. OK its not an exact science but there is far more expectations on players who sign for Top 14 or Engl Prem clubs to get value for the huge salaries. NZR get alot wrong but keeping their best players in NZ rugby is not one of them. SA clubs are virtually devoid of their top players now, no thanks. They cant threaten the big teams in the Champions Cup, the squads have little depth. Cant see Canes/Chiefs struggling. Super has been great this year, fantastic high skill matches. Drua a fantastic addition and Jaguares will add another quality team eventually. Aus teams performing strongly and no doubt will benefit with the incentive of a Lions tour and a home RWC. Let Jordie enjoy his time with Leinster, it will allow the opportunity for another player to emerge at Canes in his absence.
10 Go to commentsLove that man, his way to despise angry little men is so funny ! 😂
4 Go to comments“South African franchises would be powerhouses if we had all our overseas based players back in situ. We would have the same unbeatable aura the Toulouses, Leinsters or Saracens of this world have had over the last decade or so.” Proof that Jake white does not understand the economics of the game in SA. Players earning abroad are not going to simply come back and represent the bulls. But they might if they have a springbok contract.
22 Go to commentsA lot of fans just joined in for the fun of it! We all admire O'Gara and what he has done for La Rochelle
4 Go to commentsThe RFU will find a way to mess this up as usual. My bet is there will be no promotion into the the Premiership, only relegation into National League One. Hopefully they won’t parachute failed clubs into the league at the expense of clubs who have battled for promotion.
9 Go to commentsWell that’s the contracts for RG and Jordie bought and paid for. Now, what are the chances we can persuade Antoine to hop over with all the extra dosh we’ll have from living at the Aviva & Croke next season…??? 🤑🤑🤑
35 Go to commentsWow, that’s incredible. Great for rugby.
35 Go to commentsYou probably read that parling is going to coach the wallaby lineout but if not before now you have.
14 Go to commentsIf someone like Leo Cullen was in O’Gara’s place I don’t hear Boo-ing. It’s not just that La Rochelle has hurt Leinster and O’Gara is their Irish boss. It’s the needle that he brings and the pantomime activity before the game around pretending that Munster were supporting LaRochelle just because O’Gara is from Cork. That’s dividing Irish provinces just to get an advantage for his French Team. He can F*ck right off with that. BOOOOO! (but not while someone is lying injured)
4 Go to commentsDid the highlanders party too hard before the game? They were the pits.
1 Go to commentsWhat a player! Not long until he’s in the England side, surely?
5 Go to commentsHe seems to have the same aura as Marcus Smith - by which I mean he’s consistently judged as if he’s several years younger than he actually is. Mngomezulu has played 24 times for the Stormers. When Pollard was his age he had played 24 times for South Africa! He has more time to develop, but he has also had time to do some developing already, and he hasn’t demonstrated nearly as much talent in that time as one would expect. If he is a generational talent, then it must be a pretty poor generation.
6 Go to commentsThe greatest Springbok coach of all time is entirely on the money. Rassie and Jacques have given the south african public a great few years, but the success of the springbok selection policy will need to be judged in light of what comes next. The poor condition that the provincial system is currently in doesn’t bode well for the next few years of international rugby, and the insane 2026 schedule that the Boks have lined up could also really harm both provincial and international consistency.
22 Go to comments