Olympic sevens selection

[wilful]

Does anyone know what (if any) selection process the ARU (and the other tri-Nations since we're on about it) will have for the Olympic Games in Rio in 2016? Will it be sevens specialists or will wallabies be called upon? I'm presuming the latter. Do we know whether the ARU thinks that this is a blessing or a curse for the game?

The games are in August (the weather will be mild and dry), so presumably during the international season, but regular 15s players will surely need a few months break from regular game duties if they are to perform, so wouldn't be available at all for test selection, and probably the end of the Super season. Which would possibly stuff up a few back lines around the place...

I know it's four years away, a lot can happen between now and then, but I wonder who would be in the perfect Australian sevens team? I don't follow the sevens team at all (due to lack of exposure, not lack of interest), I'm sure there may well be some excellent players there that don't quite crack the full game. Or would the squad be basically made up of regular 15s players?

 

[Braveheart81]

I think a 7s team of

David Pocock, Digby Ioane, Michael Hooper, Will Genia, Bernard Foley, James O'Connor, Kurtley Beale would be pretty awesome.

Surely with an Olympic Medal up for grabs, top players will be keen to be involved and the AOC will be keen for us to send an excellent team.

 

[Nusadan]

I'd not pick any Test/Super rugby players unless they have done at least a full season of world sevens rugby leading up to the Olympics...so the monies for doing so would have to be compensatory etc...

 

[southsider]

they brought in a few for the commonwealth games a couple of years ago so probably do a similar thing. As for players 4 years is a age away, anyone cn make or break it in that time, if i had to pick one today thought id go with a squad of:

higgers, pocock, beale, q cooper, genia, ioane, shannon walker, o'conner, gill, hooper, fotu, samo

would probably leak a large amount of points but would be fun to watch

 

[Nusadan]

they brought in a few for the commonwealth games a couple of years ago so probably do a similar thing. As for players 4 years is a age away, anyone cn make or break it in that time, if i had to pick one today thought id go with a squad of:

higgers, pocock, beale, q cooper, genia, ioane, shannon walker, o'conner, gill, hooper, fotu, samo

would probably leak a large amount of points but would be fun to watch

Methinks Pocock is not a sevens player despite his many undoubted abilities and having played centre in schoolboy rugby, he plays too tight...I can't imagine him running with the ball 50m to the line and zigzagging thru the Kiwi side on the way...same with Gill.

Definitely would have O'Connor on the side, he'll go for it as long he can do his 'brand' in an Olympic themed advert! Genia too...perhaps Hooper if he keeps his speed intact in four years' time.

Beale might not have the stamina needed but he did break the 400m relay record with his old school in the GPS carnival...

Samo, yes, but only if he finds the fountain of youth...

This topic is going to be one of my pet loves so expect me to be on this all the time, rugby and Olympics together is my dream!

 

[Braveheart81]

I think Pocock would be a good 7s player as one of your forwards because he has good pace and is an excellent tackler. He is also good at breaking one on one tackles which makes him dangerous.

I don't think Quade Cooper would be a good 7s players because he misses too many tackles.

 

[Jets]

I think that the ARU will select a squad for the next Comm games and try and stick with the same guys on the 7's circuit for the following 2 years. The guys that play 15's are too big to be 7's players and you need to get used to playing for short bursts at high speed over 2 days.

 

[Braveheart81]

I'd be surprised if that is the case.

I think the lure of an Olympics medal will attract a lot of the best players and I think the various national Olympic committees will be keen for the best players to be selected in the hope of winning a gold medal.

Given our current program of selecting young potential players in our 7s program, I think that will definitely be changed come the 2016 Olympics.

 

[en_force_er]

I think the foundation of the squad has to be build on currently contracted 7s players (making up maybe 60-70% of the squad). 7s structure is instinctive to these guys. The structures and skills of 7s will make sense to other intellegent high level rugby players but it will never be as instinctive as somebody who has played 2 years + of tours on the 7s circuit.

I think the remaining 30% should come from the Wallabies or particularly suitable Super rugby players (i.e. Cooper Vuna or Robbie Coleman may never be a Wallabies but would certainly be an excellent 7s players). I also wouldn't mind a leaugie or two in our squad, it's an athletic game and there are plenty of great athletes in league with contact, passing, and tracking skills that are all key in 7s.

 

[Joe Mac]

They could do worse than having Stannard back in the fold. That guy was a revelation at 7's level.

 

[Joe Mac]

What about Rugby League players? Billy Slater or Greg Inglis would be pretty handy. Especially if they had a season under their belts before the Olympics

 

[Braveheart81]

I wonder if rugby league will put a ridiculous stipulation on players not being able to 'change sports' then come right back to the NRL.

I do think we will see a lot of change to the 7s team prior to the 2016 Olympics in terms of the calibre of players used.

Australia takes the Olympic Games very seriously and they will view rugby 7s as a real opportunity to win a gold medal.

 

[en_force_er]

What about Rugby League players? Billy Slater or Greg Inglis would be pretty handy. Especially if they had a season under their belts before the Olympics

Greg Inglis probably doesn't fit a 7s mould, his strength is in dominating contact and finding an offload in traffic. These skills aren't 7s orientated, that and I doubt his fitness would be suited to it and since he's a leaguie you wouldn't be able to run him through a 7s specific training regime to get him there.

Slater would be probably the number 1 leaguie to convert to 7s (after maybe Benji Marshal) but he'll be 33 by then and I just doubt many 33 year olds without years of 7s experience would be up to it.

 

[Joe Mac]

Greg Inglis probably doesn't fit a 7s mould, his strength is in dominating contact and finding an offload in traffic. These skills aren't 7s orientated, that and I doubt his fitness would be suited to it and since he's a leaguie you wouldn't be able to run him through a 7s specific training regime to get him there.

Slater would be probably the number 1 leaguie to convert to 7s (after maybe Benji Marshal) but he'll be 33 by then and I just doubt many 33 year olds without years of 7s experience would be up to it.

While these guys would be too old by 2016, I was referring to player who could be good if the games were in the short-term.

I'm not sure I agree 100% on the Inglis statement. Messam was one of the most important players to NZ at the Comm Games because of his size and speed. Ingis could be another like this. He is a massive unit, incredibly fast and agile for a bloke his size. He is also the best I have seen in beating a one-on-one tackle situation which creates huge gaps on such an open game. However I will concede that he might struggle to adapt to the game with no union background.

 

[Proud Pig]

Richard Kingi was a 7s player I believe and he is quick and evasive exactly the skills needed for a 7s player.

 

[en_force_er]

Messam was one of the most important players to NZ at the Comm Games because of his size and speed. Ingis could be another like this. He is a massive unit, incredibly fast and agile for a bloke his size. He is also the best I have seen in beating a one-on-one tackle situation which creates huge gaps on such an open game. However I will concede that he might struggle to adapt to the game with no union background.

Good point but Messam displays a work rate in Union that is far greater than Inglis' in league. I think it would be interestion to look at a few league locks and see how they go, they get through a heap of work.

 

[Ash]

And wasn't Vito considered the best 7s player around before finally getting consistently selected by the Canes two years ago?

 

[wilful]

It seems to me that it would be a pretty huge decision for the ARU to make, whether to affect the quality of the 2016 Super competition (and probably wallabies tests as well) in order to win a gold medal at the Olympics.

I think it's pretty clear that if the best wallabies are playing at the olympics then we'd have to expect a first or a second. But this will badly disrupt the 15 a side game for much of a season. Which way will they go i wonder? Which way will players want to go? What would you want to see?

As a Rebels supporter, and with both O'Connor and Beale still very much young enough and quality enough (barring injuries), it's a tough one. But I think I would prefer to see them with Olympic gold medals around their necks. Also, it would increase the popularity of the sport, so strategically it's nto a disaster. And it would keep the idea of playing mungoball further away form a few stars (like those two).

 

[Braveheart81]

We are such an Olympic centric country that I think all our rugby players would be excited by the prospect of winning an Olympic medal.

Obviously winning a RWC would be the highest honour, but after that, I'd argue that an Olympic gold medal would be about the second best thing.

I imagine the top tier nations will look to each other to an extent to see what everyone is doing. If one country takes the lead and selects a team of their top stars to try and win the thing, the other countries will follow suit.

Whilst they'd want to get some sevens experience in the run up to the Olympics, I imagine if we put together a sevens team now of Pocock, Hooper, Ioane, Genia, Cooper, Beale, Foley, Higginbotham, Mitchell etc. they would mop the floor with the current Australian sevens team.

 

[wamberal]

I have been a keen student of Sevens rugby since I moved to Hong Kong in the late seventies.


I would bet London to a brick on that the nation that wins the Sevens gold medal at the Olympic Games will be one that sticks to Sevens specialists for the bulk of their squad. We will not have a chance unless our squad plays a full circuit together, with a nucleus of players who have played two circuits at least.


However it might just be possible to parachute one superstar into the squad, somebody like Beale for example, without requiring them to play the whole circuit. But only one, IMHO. And they would have to be dedicated to Sevens training for at least three months before the Games.


NRL players should be considered for selection, if they are prepared to commit to playing one full circuit. Don't forget that rucking, mauling, lineout work, scrums, etc etc are all very important in Sevens - NRL players would have these mainstream rugby skills to learn, as well as adapting to Sevens per se.