Australian sevens stars Ben O’Donnell and Lachie Anderson lock in for Tokyo Olympic tilt

HE’S giving Ben Simmons a run for his money as far as rookie seasons go and now impressive new Aussie sevens star Ben O’Donnell is set share an Olympic uniform with the basketballer.

Ben O'Donnell on the burst in Singapore.

HE’S giving Ben Simmons a run for his money as far as rookie seasons go and now impressive new Aussie sevens star Ben O’Donnell is set share an Olympic uniform with the huge basketballer in Tokyo as well.

In a major boost for the rising fortunes of Australian men’s sevens, O’Donnell and fellow youngster Lachie Anderson have been locked away on new contracts until the end of 2020.

The duo have played a major role in the vastly improved form of the Aussie team on the world circuit this year.

Ben O'Donnell on the burst in Singapore.

The men’s team — who’ve been overshadowed by the champion Aussie women in recent years — had a breakthrough tournament win in Sydney in January, and followed it up with a third place in New Zealand and last week only a post-siren try by Fiji in the final in Singapore denied them a second tournament win for the first time in 17 years.

Leading the way in an injury-depleted squad has been O’Donnell, who debuted at the start of the 2017-18 season but has already won the player of the tournament award a staggering three times in seven appearances.

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The lanky 22-year-old from Randwick had an unusual path to his national debut — he played in the USA and Spain prior to being discovered by former coach Andy Friend playing for Australian Universities — but O’Donnell has already stamped himself as a world-class sevens player.

New men’s coach Tim Walsh said the only thing weighing down O’Donnell were all the expensive watches he’s been accumulating as the High Impact player of the tournament award — which totals up tackles, carries, offloads and linebreaks.

“He has three Tags Heuers lined up down his wrist,” Walsh said.

Lachie Anderson during the Singapore final against Fiji.

“To have someone who has bashed down the wall, been around, done a heap of sevens invitational tournaments and been around the world playing rugby and gaining experience in different cultures. He has that maturity and he has earned his success, and shown what he can do.

“It shows the talent is out there and it is a matter of getting them in and giving them opportunities.

“I am really pleased to re-sign both Ben and Lachie. You look at their current form and they’re progressing into world class sevens players and a huge part of building a sustainable program is the best players re-signing.”

Anderson, 20, debuted for the Aussie sevens team last year and with a combination of speed and loose-forward muscle, had interest from Super Rugby clubs about returning to the 15-a-side game.

But the NSW youngster elected to stick with sevens and aim towards the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.

Better than Ben Simmons?

“Like all of them, you have to be a jack of all trades and a master of some — Lachie certainly fits that mould,” Walsh said.

“He is a ball winner, a power runner and he is quick. He is a level headed young man and to have that maturity as a youngster is pretty good. It’s now about building up his experience.”

Walsh’s high standards saw him deliver a circumspect verdict on the Singapore result, however courageous.

“It was good, it wasn’t great,” Walsh said.

“But in five really tight games, we came away with a win and that shows really good resilience. The next step is that in those finals, we are coming away winning a majority of them and that’s going to be a huge difference between us being podium finishers and being in that fifth-sixth zone.”

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Originally published as Australian sevens stars Ben O’Donnell and Lachie Anderson lock in for Tokyo Olympic tilt