England Sevens coach faces selection dilemma.


By Sally Price - RFU Press Office
February 17 2006

Now the fourth IRB Sevens (Los Angeles) is over, the leading international sevens coaches all over the world are selecting their squads for the Commonwealth Games next month. New Page 1

England Sevens coach faces selection dilemma.

 

 

Now the fourth IRB Sevens (Los Angeles) is over, the leading international sevens coaches all over the world are selecting their squads for the Commonwealth Games next month.  England Sevens Coach Mike Friday, whose young side were successful in Los Angeles and won the tournament for the first time, faces some difficult choices as he aims to select a squad who can bring back the gold medal.
 

He said, "I am pleased with our performance so far this year given that this is young, developing squad. At the end of last season we lost a number of our experienced players to the senior squad including Pat Sanderson and Peter Richards, but they have made way for a new breed of exciting youngsters to be discovered.  Six new caps have been awarded already this season and all of those new players have been impressive in how they have performed at this level of international rugby.  They have all thrown their hats into the ring for selection, but only 12 can play, and there are going to be some tough decisions made over the coming weeks."

 

England face a tough pool at the Commonwealth Games, which are held in Melbourne's Telstra Stadium on 16th & 17th March.  England will play home nation Australia in the final match of Day One of the tournament, and Australia will be looking to do their home crowd proud.   Australia Sevens Coach Glen Ella has this week confirmed his 12 man squad for the tournament which includes four Wallabies - Lote Tuqiri, Matt Giteau, Scott Fava and Chris Latham.  Ella said "They have the speed, power, footwork and big-game experience that will hopefully give us the edge when we come up against the big guns of Sevens Rugby like New Zealand, Fiji, England and South Africa."
 

On the Australian team selection Mike Friday said, "We know that it will be tough to play the Australians in the pool stages. We saw at Manchester how much support there is for the home nation - only this time everyone will be cheering for them and not us!  However, in sevens we have learned that you have to be prepared to beat everyone you come up against at any stage so it doesn't really matter if we face them on day one or day two."

 
England will name their 15 man travelling squad (which will be reduced to 12 just before the tournament) on 28th February.  Mike explained, "Phil Greening (Assistant Coach) and I are currently discussing player availability with the premiership clubs.  The clubs are being very supportive and understand how a player's development benefits from being involved in such a major sporting event.

 

"Obviously the Games clash with the RBS 6 Nations so we are unable to select any of the senior England team but I am confident that we will be able to take a strong squad to try and win gold. This will be a once in a lifetime experience for the players.  The Commonwealth Games is one of the world's largest sporting events and will be the biggest and most high profile stage many of them will have ever played upon.   With that in mind, it is important that alongside some of the youngsters we take some older heads who bring with them the benefit of experience."

 
England are seeded third in the tournament, behind current Commonwealth champions New Zealand and Fiji.  Friday knows competition for medals will be fierce.  "So many of the teams taking part have the ability to win. Part of the beauty of sevens is that games are over so quickly that seedings often count for nothing.  The Fijians have been impressive all season and perform well in the big game environment.  Despite New Zealand not having the best start to their sevens season, there is no doubt that they will pull out all of the stops in Melbourne.  They have also named four All Blacks in their squad, including Dougie Howlett, and will do everything they can to retain their Commonwealth crown.  So it is up to England to rise to the challenge, and make everyone back home proud."

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