Private premiere held for Hold Back the River

Wed, Sep 6, 2017, 7:43 AM
Sam Phillips
by Sam Phillips
Hold Back the River is a six part series following the Australian Women's Sevens' road to Rio. Photo: Getty Images
Hold Back the River is a six part series following the Australian Women's Sevens' road to Rio. Photo: Getty Images

A private premiere of Hold Back the River was aired for players and team staff in Sydney last night, a moment coach Tim Walsh has been eagerly awaiting for six years.

That's how long ago Walsh started filming the Australian Women's Sevens squad as they set out on the road to Rio.

His behind the scenes footage, along with some professional vision shot by Onion TV, is now being seen for the first time, as part of a six episode documentary.

"We ended up having this six years of history that I would like to share and promote and inspire the next generation of rugby Sevens players," Walsh said last night.

"I want to see more and that was the whole point of it, really.


"We have six episodes of 20 minutes and we really want to get a taste of what's out there, get some personalities and leave you wanting to watch this documentary, follow this journey and enlighten people what it's like to be an Australian Women's Sevens player."

One of the players that was part of the journey to gold, Chloe Dalton, told RUGBY.com.au she loved the first look at the six part series.

"I loved it," she said."I wanted it to go for longer.

"It's pretty exciting to see all that stuff.


"Obviously we lived it and we were a part of it but to look back on all the things that we achieved, it was really cool and I'm really looking forward to the official release of it."

Dalton hopes the documentary will give the average sports fan a detailed look behind the scenes.

"I think it's so cool to be able to go behind the scenes," Dalton said.

"There are always people asking different questions about what our preparation is like, what our lead up is like into tournaments and things like that.

"So for people to actually see what it's like will be really great."

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