Australian men's Sevens coach Tim Walsh is embracing the return of international competition as they travel to New Zealand this weekend.
Both the men's and women's sides will head across the Tasman to face the Kiwis after the re-opening of the travel bubble.
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It will mark the first time in nearly 500 days since they have faced an international opponent, which ironically was the Kiwis in the 2020 Vancouver Sevens Final.
With an Olympics on the horizon, Walsh has been forced to be creative with his preparations as they look to bring back a medal.
They have been resided to looking internally for competition, organising a series of games between local competition.
Along with this, the men's side travelled to Darwin at the start of the month as they acclimatise to the hot and humid conditions awaiting them in Tokyo.
“A lot of it has come down to experience and past performance but we’ve been able to work and test ourselves in different ways. With every obstacle, you can come with a new way of looking at things,” he said.
“We’ve been quite creative and innovative in how we prepare.
“Within that, other players are now putting their hands up for selection. It’s been all about combining the old and the new to get the best team to represent Australia at one of the world’s biggest sporting events.”
This has provided a perfect opportunity for local players to step up and push for selection, with Southern Districts flyer Nathan Lawson and Easts winger Henry Patterson among the standouts who have been selected for this weekend's series of matches.
Walsh believes that the pair add a new dynamic to the squad as they search for complete football players.
“If you look at our squad, we were lacking that power player with a bit of size and Nathan (Lawson) and Henry (Paterson) suit that,” he suggests.
“Both of them are really quick and skilful. Nathan in particular has an incredible edge on him which is very important in Sevens.
“They’re complete Rugby players that can do everything whilst doing a couple of things really well. To be able to do that under pressure and fatigue over a series of days is a whole new test which comes with years of experience.
“It’s a real good test and challenge for those guys. They bring all the skills necessary to play Sevens."
The Kiwis are primed to take home the gold in August, with All Black Caleb Clarke and Chiefs outside back Etene Nanai-Seturo set to play for them on the weekend.
The prospect of playing the best in the world excites Walsh, who believes the shutdown period has provided Australia and the Pacific a competitive advantage over the rest of the nations.
“It’s brilliant. New Zealand are currently number one and those players are exceptionally good, Caleb’s (Clarke) a starting All Blacks winger. They have complete respect to the Sevens program, it’s a really strategic move to have those guys represent New Zealand at the Olympics,” he said.
“We love playing against the best so we welcome the challenge with open arms and we very much look forward to seeing what they can bring to Sevens again.”
“With New Zealand, we’re in an unique position where in our corner of the globe, three out of the top four countries in Fiji, NZ and Australia reside. When COVID hit, we got together as coaches and worked out what’s our competitive advantage here?
“It’s our weather, government, quality of athletes so we can hopefully work together to prepare ourselves for three medals and fight over the gold, silver and bronze hopefully.
“I think that’s a competitive advantage that we’re trying to utilise going into Tokyo."
Australian Men’s Sevens travelling squad: Angus Bell
Joshua Coward
Henry Hutchison (vc)
Maurice Longbottom (vc)
Lachlan Miller
Dylan Pietsch
Lewis Holland
Dietrich Roache
Trae Williams
Jordan Williams
Nick Malouf (c)
Joshua Turner
Stu Dunbar
Pama Fou
Nathan Lawson
Henry Paterson
Lachlan Anderson
Nick Chapman
Friday May 21: Grammar Tec, Auckland
8:00am – Black Ferns Sevens v Australian Women’s Sevens
8:30am – All Black Sevens v Australian Men’s Sevens
1:30pm – Australian Women’s Sevens v Black Ferns Sevens
2:00pm – Australian Men’s Sevens v All Black Sevens
Saturday May 22: Eden Park, Auckland
1:00 pm – Black Ferns Sevens v Australian Women’s Sevens
1:23pm – All Black Sevens v Australian Men’s Sevens
4:40pm – Australian Women’s Sevens v Black Ferns Sevens
5:03pm – Australian Men’s Sevens v All Black Sevens
Sunday May 23: Grammar Tec, Auckland
9:00am – Black Ferns Sevens v Australian Women’s Sevens
9:30am – All Black Sevens v Australian Men’s Sevens
1:00pm – Australian Women’s Sevens v Black Ferns Sevens
1:30 pm – Australian Men’s Sevens v All Black Sevens
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