Australia Men's Sevens captain Henry Hutchison believes an elusive home title will be the perfect way to celebrate his new cap record as the SVNS World Series returns to Perth.
Hutchison surpassed the record set by his former teammate and skipper Nick Malouf, running out for his 62nd tournament in Singapore.
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The 28-year-old accounts for close to a third of the Aussies' total caps, with only three further players in the squad with more than 10 appearances.
“I was unaware of it actually, until one of my mates told me before getting on the plane to Singapore," he told reporters.
“Nick Malouf reached out straight away, an old friend of mine and captain of the team, who I took it from so he congratulated me. At the time, you brush past it but the team recognised it which was really special.
“I’ll take some time to reflect on it after this weekend and I'm sure in a couple of years when it's all said and done."
Hutchison and the Australians have found themselves narrowly close to the title in previous years, twice falling short to Argentina.
“We'll just take it game-by-game as we can, not look too far ahead, take on New Zealand, take on France, take on GB, see where we fall, and if we're into that semi-final on a Sunday and we've got an Australian crowd getting behind us with the wind in our sails, who knows what can happen," he said.
“Sevens is a rollercoaster. I tell the boys, you're never as high as you think you are when you have your win and you're probably never as low as you are when you have your losses. You've got to be really careful at sitting in that middle, staying level-headed, job by job, task by task, and just working your way through that weekend.
“It takes time to be good at it, but you've got to learn quickly.”
The Aussies have called Jarrah McLeod into the squad for the injured Dietrich Roache (hamstring), looking for added physcality.
“Physicality is something that Liam Barry, the new coach, has really been pushing for us. We've got some physical blokes in the team and we've just got to learn to do it for five games," Hutchison added.
