Australian women’s sevens team looking to dominate at Olympic Games

WHEN they became fulltime professionals in 2014, the Australian women’s sevens team created a theme for each year on the Road to Rio.

Pictured in Narrabeen today is the Australian Women's Rugby Sevens Team. Picture: Tim Hunter.

WHEN they became full-time professionals three years ago, the Australian women’s sevens team created a theme for each year on the Road to Rio.

“The first year was ‘platform and establishment’,” explains coach Tim Walsh.

“That was when we went professional and it was about establishing ourselves as a team. The second year was about “growth, consistency and leadership”.

“This year, the theme is ‘dominance and destiny’.”

Destiny still awaits, but on every other front, boxes have been ticked off so emphatically by the Aussie women’s sevens team, they’re now one of Australia’s leading gold medal hopes at the 2016 Olympics.

Given it is the first time rugby sevens will be included in the Olympics, they have no idea if the path they’re on is the right one but Walsh and crew are going with the proven formula of many gold medallists across the years: lead from the front.

You want dominance? The Aussie women’s team are unbeaten so far in the 2015-16 World Series, and by virtue of their back-to-back tournament wins in Dubai and Sao Paulo, are ranked No.1 in the world. Daylight is second and arch-rivals New Zealand come in next alongside Canada.

A team of former XVs players, touch footballers, some sprinters and a former WNBL player, the Aussie team’s skill and speed are keeping them ahead of fast-emerging threats from Russia, Canada and the US, who are growing with Olympic funding but remain more robotic athletes than footy players.

“It definitely is all uncharted waters because no-one has done it before us,” vice-captain Shannon Parry says of the Olympics.

“We have put in two good performances and had two wins but we know there is a long way to go until the world series is finished, and then it is charging towards Rio. We have our processes and our own goals that we want to tick off along the way. If we focus on that, the results will come.”

The Australian women’s sevens team are going for gold in Rio.

The process focus is understandable given no one wants to get ahead of themselves in an Olympic year. Walsh has even more excuses to be nervous. Should you worry about peaking too early in an Olympic year when, realistically, there is only one tournament that counts? A former Australian sevens player who has coached the women’s team since 2012, Walsh says the goal was always to be rolling into a Games with momentum.

“We certainly set out to compete at the Olympics for a medal. We were never content with just being participants,” he says. “The strategy right from the outset was how are we going to be the best in the world and, hopefully, Olympic champions.

“A lot of our strategies are geared towards that and this year, our plan has always been to be peaking in August, not in April or May.”

Parry says they are working towards their first Olympics somewhat “blindfolded”, but the beauty of it being a first Olympics for sevens, it’s the same blindfold for all.

Planning and preparation, then, will prove critical to success and the Australian women’s team are doing all they can to reduce the potential peril of Olympic shock. After their recent win in Sao Paulo, the squad flew to Rio to soak up the sights of the city and tour the Olympic facilities and the rugby venue. “It hit home that we are not far from the Games now, so you have to make every session count. There are 110 days or so until selection,” Parry says. “To be able to see it before we get there I think is a massive advantage for us, to see where we will be staying and so on. It gave that sensation, yeah, it is coming very quickly and everyone is now biting at the bit to make the final cut and be in the side.”

Walsh says: “When they do get there in August it will be less of a shock, I guess.”

Advice from experienced Australian Olympians have also been valuable, Parry says.

Water polo skipper Bronwen Knox and former Olympic kayaker Jim Walker both spoke to the squad about taking their opportunity in Rio. Walker admitted he blew his shot in 1996 and then failed to qualify for Sydney.

“He learned the tough road the first time he went to the Olympics,” Parry says. “For us, that’s experience we haven’t got, so it’s extremely valuable for us to get our heads around that ­message: don’t let it slip.”

The third leg of the World Rugby Women’s Sevens is in Atlanta on April 8 and 9.

Originally published as Australian women’s sevens team looking to dominate at Olympic Games