Revealed: Australian women’s team did it tough on journey to sevens world title
WINNING may seem a given these days for the Australian women’s sevens team but their 2018 World Series title was claimed despite significant behind-the-scenes adversity.
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SINCE taking gold at the Rio Olympics, Australians have come to expect its women’s sevens team will just win.
And they often do. But sometimes it’s not as easy as it appears.
This year for example. A strong start and consistent results in the World Series masked upheaval off the field, but the side still managed to be crowned world champions.
They started the 2017-18 series with two event wins, even went through Sydney without a point scored against them.
Then after going down in a nailbiter to New Zealand in the Commonwealth Games final, the women’s sevens endured injuries to key players and a coach change post-Games when Tim Walsh moved to the men’s team and assistant John Manenti took over.
The team stuck strong. A third and two runners-up plus fighting their way through finals matches in Paris last weekend was enough to snare the World Series title, a spot in the final there all they needed to wrap it up.
Co-captain Shannon Parry was impressed with how the team handled what was thrown at them.
“Winning a World Series is incredibly hard to do in itself. It’s the most consistent team across the five weeks of the World Series,” she said.
“We had a good start to the year, a bit of a lull over Comm Games but managed to make the last two finals, but there has been a lot of things that happened behind the scenes.
“Our coach transitioned, but there are a number of things that happened behind the scenes that people are unaware of.
“For us as a team, it’s brought us a lot closer together and we’ve been fortunate enough to develop that younger generation — Yasmin Meakes, Page McGregor, Lauren Brown, Emma Sykes has really stepped up as well.”
There’s only a short time to rest for the champs before they head to San Francisco next month to compete in the World Cup.
Even with a World Series in the bag, there’s a lot to work on to reel back a New Zealand team in red-hot form.
The two met in the past two World Series finals with Australia going down 46-0 in Langford then 33-7 last weekend in Paris.
“We know what we need to do against the Kiwis, it’s about executing that on the field,” Parry said.
“We know how to beat them, it’s just implementing that game strategy on the field and making those right, crucial decisions at the right time.
“With the World Cup, it’s a whole different format, it’s straight knockout. There’s a maximum of four games, you potentially lose your first game and you’re out of contention for the World Cup title. It brings a whole different element to the tournament.”
The Rugby Sevens World Cup runs July 20-22 and is being played at AT&T Park, the home of Major League Baseball team the San Francisco Giants.
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