Sevens gun Tim Anstee signs on with Super Rugby’s Force after Olympic delay
He was talent ID’d for an Olympic sport as a schoolboy but now this Sydney athlete has a back-up plan after a sporting career change triggered by coronavirus.
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It was an opportunity just too good to refuse.
In a year where his dream of competing at the Tokyo Olympics was quashed by a global pandemic, Tim Anstee has now been offered a different route to sporting success with a team thousands of kilometress from his Baulkham Hills home.
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Just days after playing for Eastwood in the Shute Shield grand final against Gordon, the Australian Sevens gun is relocating from Sydney to Perth this week to join the Western Force ahead of the next Super Rugby season.
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“I am rapt. I loved my time in Sevens but now COVID has given me the chance to play 15s again,” said Anstee, who played rugby from the age of seven with Hills Rugby before moving to the Dural Rugby club.
But Anstee hasn’t given up on his dream of competing at an Olympic if the postponed Tokyo Games go ahead next year, a proposition under threat from a second wave of coronavirus overseas.
He’s just super-sized it.
“It is still a goal to be honest,’’ Anstee said of competing in Japan.
“Potentially there is a chance to come back if it goes ahead.
“Nothing is set in stone. It is still on the radar but this was a good opportunity at my age to transition into 15s so I've taken it.
“With Sevens, it was just a bit uncertain. When tournaments will go ahead, the Olympics being in doubt.
“You can limit yourself if you play Sevens for two long, to come back to the 15s. I saw it an exciting opportunity.’’
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Anstee believes he can bring skills honed in Sevens into 15s rugby.
“In Sevens you have to be good at core skills, tackles, passing 15m, speed. If you don’t do it all well you get found out,’’ he said.
“I want to use my speed, high work rate, my tackling being a jack-of-all trades, my fitness.’’
Anstee will have the chance to freshen up after his Shute Shield season with two weeks of quarantine in Perth.
“It’s a home quarantine so it won’t be too bad,’’ Anstee said.