Charlie Taylor is still finding his feet in the Aussie Sevens environment, with a spectacular corner post try showing his rugby league pedigree.
Taylor played U20s with Manly and the Roosters in the NRL from 2013-15, before Sevens coach Andy Friend prompted a code switch last year.
In his first Sevens stint and first rugby outing since his school days, the 21-year-old was still moving to go back 10 metres in defence and admitted the transition was still a work in progress.
A sensational try against Samoa in Wellington, evocative of many scored in the NRL, revealed his league background and he hopes to replicate it at Allianz Stadium.
“I just got the ball and I was looking at the line and I saw the Samoan come across and I was thinking, ‘I can't step in,’ and, ‘If I step in I won't score, so I'll just dive for the corner,’ and luck went my way and I managed to stay in,” he said.
“Especially with the crowd with us [in Sydney], I think I'll be able to pull off something similar if I can, if I get an opportunity, I'll definitely give it a shot.” - Charlie Taylor
While he is far from the finished product, Taylor said he had no regrets about his move into the sevens format.
“I was really enjoying league and I just got an opportunity. Andy Friend just gave me a text and said, ‘Hey, I've heard a little bit about you, I've seen you play and I think you'd be a great Sevens player, I'm here to give you the opportunity if you want to take it, it's there,” he said.
“I went away to France and played in the Tribe team, my first game, I haven't played union since school so it was a whole lot of experience.
“I was leaning to go back the 10 metres because of league but I went alright over there and Friendy was really happy with me so he gave me another shot and was pretty happy so I just stuck with the system and just kept training and here I am.”
While he was a relative unknown coming into the Sevens, the burgeoning model brought with him some social media star power, boasting 130,000 followers on Instagram.
