Australian sevens stars flock to Shute Shield

Australian sevens stars Henry Hutchison and Josh Coward should be in Tokyo this weekend getting ready to play for Olympic gold.

Sevens star Henry Hutchison will turn out for Randwick in Sydney’s club rugby competition. Picture: AFP

Australian sevens stars Henry Hutchison and Josh Coward should be in Tokyo this weekend getting ready to play for Olympic gold.

Instead, they’ll be hitting the field for Randwick and West Harbour in Sydney’s premier rugby competition, the Shute Shield.

With the World Sevens Series cancelled due to COVID-19, 11 Aussie sevens stars have infiltrated clubland. Hutchison said he was happy to be back playing the 15-man code at his old club, Randwick.

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“Playing Shute Shield from a football standard wise, it’s really good footy and we’re still very much tested as players and we can grow and develop our game,” Hutchison said.

“First session back was a Tuesday and it was contact day, it was 15 on 15, full noise in the rain for about an hour and a half, a lot more bodies flying around, a few bumps and bruises.

“We want to show the 15s boys that we can jump into both interchangeably.”

Hutchison, Lachie Miller, Maurice Longbottom and Dylan Pietsch have all joined the Galloping Greens.

Easts landed Will Maddocks and Joe Pincus. Trae “Quadzilla” Williams will run out for Southern Districts, while Coward and Rod Davies will play for West Harbour.

Hutchison said transitioning between formats and finding positions would be challenging — especially for players such as Longbottom, who have little experience playing the 15-a-side format.

But the 23-year-old is adamant the club rugby tribalism will help the Aussie sevens players get through the bitter disappointment of Tokyo 2020 being postponed.

“No doubt it’s been tough on the group, to put all your energy, focus and goals leading to Tokyo … a 12-month build-up, for that to be taken away and thrown into a world of uncertainty, it’s frustrating and stressful,” Hutchison said.

“But the tribalism, club culture, there’s real belief and community in those groups, you really get adopted by that community.

“It also offers us an opportunity to play in front of our families, we only have one tournament a year in Australia.”

Coward expects to rotate between five-eighth and fullback at West Harbour.

He and teammate Davis both hope to help the club into a top-four finish this season.

“The club is very good, there’s a lot of very good footy players down there, but they’re missing that final touch to get on to that next top-four level at the moment,” Coward said.

“Hopefully, me and Rocket (Davis) can go there, take what we’ve learnt, especially Rocket, he’s played 15s all over the world, has a Wallabies cap, over 60 caps in Super Rugby, he’ll bring a lot of knowledge to our team.”

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH