RUGBY SEVENS: The Australian women are just four points behind New Zealand in the overall IRB Sevens World Series rankings, while the men are out to defend their 2012 Tokyo title, setting up a huge weekend of Rugby Sevens action in China and Japan.

Both teams face a short turnaround after playing in Hong Kong last weekend where the women finished second and men made the plate semi final.

Women's Sevens:

Now in China for the penultimate leg of their World Series, the Qantas Women’s Sevens (ranked 2nd) face Japan (11th), Ireland (unranked) and Canada (7th) in pool play. All teams present challenges, particularly Canada who outmuscled Australia in the Hong Kong final last weekend.

“This tournament is very important. I’m looking for a lot more physicality from the girls,” Women's Sevens coach Chris Lane said.

“We obviously want to win the World Series and this would be a big step toward that.

“Winning the World Series would give us a big boost as we head to Moscow for the World Cup in June.

“Everything we’ve been doing over the past 18 months has been aimed toward June."

With Rugby Sevens on the Olympic program in 2016, each round of the World Series is becoming even more fiercly contested than the last. 

“While we’ve been trying to win each tournament, we’re just trying to improve on each outing and the tougher the tournaments, the better we’ll be able to prepare," he said.

Skipper Rebecca Tavo is one of many in the Australian squad on the cusp of a Sevens milestone, needing just 15 points to reach 200 points for Australia.

Men's Sevens:

The defending champions of the Tokyo-based event, the Qantas Men’s Sevens head into the seventh round of the HSBC Sevens World Series with a significantly different squad to that which finished as Plate semifinalists in Hong Kong last weekend.

Injury to three players has forced the hand of Qantas Men’s Sevens coach, Michael O’Connor, to make late changes to his Australian squad.

“This is a tournament we won last year and we want to retain that title,” O’Connor said.

“It doesn’t add pressure, but it certainly adds an expectation on the guys.”

Both Sean McMahon and livewire Shannon Walker were injured during the Hong Kong Sevens and follow up medical treatment determined they would not be fit for the weekend, while a further blow was struck when prop Ben Adams injured his knee during training in Tokyo.

The three will be replaced by an uncapped trio from Sydney who caught O’Connor’s eye while competing for their club sides during domestic Sevens tournaments earlier this year.

Peter Schuster and Sam Figg, both from Northern Suburbs, and Paul Asquith from Southern Districts are set to make their international debuts this weekend thanks to some strong Club performances.

O’Connor said he hoped his side could overcome the disruptions and the new players would seize their opportunity.

“It’s challenging but this is a great opportunity for these new guys,” O’Connor said.

“Hong Kong was quite a gruelling tournament and these guys are fresh, so that might be just what we need.”

The Australian coach said it was also a big benefit that the players had prior Sevens experience with their club sides.

“It’s great to see clubs taking sides to the domestic tournaments,” O’Connor said.

“It certainly helps us identify players and it’s good to have them getting the experience so they’re not too green when they come to us.”

All three players impressed O’Connor while playing for their clubs and further proved their worth when invited to train with the Australian Sevens squad.

Figg’s journey to international Sevens is remarkable, considering just two years ago he was playing Suburban Rugby with Barker Old Boys, before making the move to Northern Suburbs’ Colts team last year.

“All three guys have been training with the squad. They’ve worked hard and they impressed me,” O’Connor said.

Australia (ranked 11th) will face England (10th), Argentina (8th) and Samoa (3rd) in pool play in Tokyo, a pool which O’Connor knows will be a difficult task for his young side.

“They’re three tough games,” O’Connor said.

Olympics.com.au with ARU

The Qantas Women’s Sevens kick off their pool with a clash against Japan at 2:38pm (AEST), before taking on Ireland at 4:50pm (AEST) and Canada at 7:32 (AEST) on Saturday 30 March.


The Qantas Men’s Sevens kick off pool play against England at 12:00pm (AEST) Saturday 30 March, before taking on Argentina at 4:07pm (AEST) and finally Samoa at 7:35pm (AEST). Fox Sports will televise a highlights package of the tournament on Tuesday 2 April at 9:00pm on Fox 3.