Australia wants to expand national squad
Rugby Australia is preparing to launch a nationwide recruitment campaign aimed at women in rival sports to join the sevens squad ahead of next year’s Tokyo Olympics
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THE exploding worldwide popularity of women’s Sevens has prompted Rugby Australia to launch a new nationwide recruitment campaign, offering full-time professional contracts as well as the chance to chase Olympic gold, to try and lure some of the best athletes away from other sports.
Rugby Australia is planning to target the top women’s players in rugby league and AFL as well as track and field sprinters to build a superstar team that can win gold at next year’s Tokyo Olympics.
“What we’re ideally looking for is to add a little bit more cream to what we’ve already got,” Rugby Australia’s performance manager for sevens Scott Bowen told Rugby Central.
“There’s obviously some girls in other codes that you say ‘why don't you just come over and give it a crack’.
“If it doesn't work out you can always go back and play for the Roosters or the Dragons or the Broncos at the end of this year but if it does work out, a whole new world of opportunities may present itself for them.”
Rugby Australia already has 18 full-time contracted players on the women’s sevens program, earning base salaries of between $70,000 and $115,000, but wants to add more players after World Rugby announced major changes to the sport’s premier global competition.
Starting from next season, the women’s World Series will be expanded from six to eight tournaments, including six events held in conjunction with the men.
Sydney, which was the first tournament to fully integrate the men’s and women’s competitions in 2017, will now be joined by Dubai, Cape Town, Hamilton, Hong Kong and Paris in providing mixed tournaments.
The women will also play stand-alone events in the United States and Canada while the men will have separate tournaments in North America, London and Singapore.
Australia won the women’s gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics but hasn’t won a round of the World Series in over a year but Bowen said they was still time for new players to make the switch, with players initially expected to start in the domestic university competition before the best move on to the international stage.
“In terms of professional sports, we feel we have a pretty good offering,” Bowen said.
“It’s a year round professional sport with full time contracts and when you add in the opportunity to travel all over the world and compete at the Olympics and the Commonwealth Games, that’s just something the other codes can’t match.
“We’re 16 months out from the Olympics so we’re looking at girls biting the bullet and having a crack.”
2019-2020 HSBC Sevens World Series’
HSBC USA Women’s Sevens — Glendale, Colorado (women’s stand-alone event)
Emirates Airline Dubai Sevens**
HSBC Cape Town Sevens **
HSBC New Zealand Sevens**
HSBC Sydney Sevens**
HSBC Canada Sevens — Vancouver (men’s stand-alone event)
HSBC USA Sevens - TBC (men’s stand-alone event)
Hong Kong Sevens**
HSBC Singapore Sevens (men’s stand-alone event)
HSBC Canada Women’s Sevens — Langford (women’s stand-alone event)
HSBC London Sevens (men’s stand-alone event)
HSBC Paris Sevens **
**Combined men’s and women’s sevens events for the season 2020 and starting in 2019.
Originally published as Australia wants to expand national squad
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