The Australian Women’s Sevens are on top of the world right now but coach Tim Walsh says they’ve got more to do before they have a chance of gracing the top of the Olympic podium.
Australia is leading the World Series after its first back-to-back World Series titles with an undefeated run through last weekend’s Sao Paulo tournament.
With four tournaments left in the series, Walsh said the team’s focus was to keep improving.
“It’s a fiercely fought World Series and we need to keep pushing each other to the absolute limits so we’re in peak performance come Rio,” he told World Rugby post-match.
“It’s a great to be on top of the World Series and going back-to-back. We’ll enjoy the moment but then it’s back to training.”
The Aussies found themselves in some hard fought tussles during the Brazil tournament but Walsh said their experience helped them through.
“They’re three to four years in, most have 15 World Series caps and we have five World Series wins,” he said.
“When you’re put in those situations you get that familiarity with it.
That experience in high pressure situations will be critical come August but Walsh said every team would be heading into a major unknown in the Olympics.
“(The) Olympics are going to be a whole new story for every team so we’re on the right track but all the teams have got a long way to go and anything’s going to happen."
Stand-in captain Shannon Parry said she was proud of the way the side built its way into the tournament.
“(That) composure we built game on game and we didn’t play our best all tournament until the final,” she said.
“We still made errors but we know we’re building in the right direction.
“There’s a long way to Rio and plenty of tournaments to go but I’m just proud of the girls putting in a solid performance.”
