Alex Gibbon has pinpointed the weekend’s National Sevens Championships in Rio as the perfect opportunity to impress Australian Head Coach Geraint John.
The 22-year-old from Lismore will represented the New South Wales Blue side at the weekend tournament at the Sydney Academy of Sport in Narrabeen and is looking forward to returning to competitive action at the Nationals.
“I’m really looking forward to getting out on the field with the New South Wales team and trying to win the competition.
“In my opinion, Queensland Red will be the team to watch out for while the Indigenous team will be fun to watch I’m sure. I reckon it’s going to be a really good tournament and it’s going to be interesting seeing the other states who we haven’t seen before.
I’m definitely looking forward to playing against the likes of Shannon [Walker], but also my team-mates who are playing for Queensland – I’m sure we’ll have a bit of banter with those guys so I’m sure it will be good!”
This season Gibbon has scored three tries in the two Sevens World Series tournaments he has played for Australia this season – his last appearance being in South Africa in December.
“My goal is to get back in the national team and it’ll be a great opportunity to play again in front of the coach [Geraint John]. I’ve just been working on the little things over the last couple of months – the little things – passing, catching, the simple things really.”
New South Wales Blue kick off their Pool B campaign against Northern Territory at 9.15am AEDT on Saturday before playing Queensland White and Western Australia. Elsewhere, Queensland has been drawn in Pool A alongside Tasmania, the National Indigenous side and New South Wales White. ACT are the early favourites to progress from Pool C in a group featuring Australian Universities, Victoria and South Australia.
