Rugby
Brittany Mitchell, ESPN Assistant Editor 5y

No excuses, Australian women's sevens have plenty of work to do

World Rugby Sevens Series

Despite bowing out at the final World Series tournament in Biarritz in fifth place, the Australian women's sevens side had done just enough to secure qualification for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. But after one of their most disappointing series in more than five years, Australia coach John Manenti admitted his side have plenty of work to do as the countdown to the Games begins.

In a year of mishits the Pearls succumbed to their worst World Series result since 2013, claiming just three podium finishes across the six tournaments and saw their losing run to New Zealand extend to seven matches.

Returning to Australia without any silverware once again, Manenti was upfront that the season had been a let down.

"We want to win everything we play, so it is disappointing, but it's also part of where we're at and where we've got to get to. If we win every tournament now and don't win at the Olympics, it's probably equally as disappointing," Manenti said.

"We know we have to do the work, we know that success in past years doesn't guarantee success now, winning doesn't take turns, so every time we play we've got to aim up and produce the goods and we haven't done that consistently.

"At times we've been as good as anyone in the world and at other times we've been disappointing, that I suppose, is where the group's at and developing that middle and younger tier girl's mentality around the hard situations, that in the past we have found a way to win, maybe we're not doing that at the moment. The harder they work the more chance they'll get at turning those situations around."

Only three years ago the women claimed the first Olympic rugby sevens gold medal, and now expectations are high and the pressure is building for the 'golden girls' to repeat the feat, but after such a disappointing campaign the side looks to have lost some of their lustre.

Without a tournament win, Australia's best results earned were a silver in Sydney after a 34-10 hiding to from the Black Ferns, a result repeated in Canada after a heartbreaking 21-17 defeat. They took out bronze in Dubai, and had to settle for a fifth place finish at Glendale and Biarritz. However, their worst performance came in Kitakyushu, Japan, where they were again upstaged by their trans-Tasman rivals and fell to sixth; their lowest tournament finish in four years.

In fact, since Manenti took the reins in April 2018, following Australia's dramatic Commonwealth Games gold medal loss to New Zealand, his team have failed to earn a single tournament series title.

The second highest scoring side in the World Series competition, Australia's attacking abilities have never come into question. Accumulating a combined 893 points across the series - trailing only New Zealand on 1019 - with an average 25 points and average 4 tries per game, Australia have had no issue getting points on the board. However, the side's true problem is at the other end.

Conceding 506 points, at an average of 15 points per game, in comparison to New Zealand's 317, Canada's 462 and the USA's 490, highlights a defensive issue that has hampered the side for the last few seasons.

"Our for and against suggests we're scoring plenty of points, we've just got to stop leaking them. That's something we've been aware of for a while and something we've been working to improve on.

"There has been improvements in individuals, considerable improvements in some individuals, and some still need to keep working at it, but we are getting there. We're still improving those contact and collisions areas.

"Certainly if you saw us on day one against Canada, that was one of our best physical defensive games we've had, it was great to know that we can do it against the best teams, but consistency is what probably let us down throughout the whole season, that's something that if we don't address we're not going to be at the pointy end of the tournament come the big tournaments next year."

Averaging five missed tackles per game, Australia trails to top teams significantly and despite the work already put in, they clearly still have a lot more to do to catch up to the tournament's best.

"Obviously defence wins tournaments and I'm worried about it, we've been working on it and like I said there've been individuals who've had good improvements, and our systems are working well. But at the end of the day, a lot of it is, just bigger girls on smaller girls.

"The American player's average is almost 10kg more a player than us on their starting team, so when those two forces hit each other, the smaller player generally misses a tackle or falls off a tackle. If we're going to be the best we've got to be better in those areas and hence we've been working a lot on it, but until we get those numbers to where they need to be, we're not going to be winning tournaments."

One of the smaller sides running around the circuit, Manenti argued that there hadn't been a drop in standard amongst his players, rather opposition sides had become more professional and were using their size to out-muscle the Australians.

"When we won the last [Olympic] gold we were the only professional team, now everyone's a professional. Everyone's training seven days a week, fully paid, contracted players. They're lifting every day, they're stronger, they're faster, they're fitter; so we're up against teams that are playing at a better standard than they were," Manenti told ESPN. "We're playing better than we were two years ago, but so is the opposition, so we've just got to keep raising our bar.

"There's no doubt of the top teams we'd be the smallest on the circuit and I think the way teams are playing now is a lot more direct, much more collision based; when they play us they try and make us tackle, they try hit the rucks, they try to use their physicality against us. So even teams like Ireland, that aren't a big team, they just play a totally different way to us when they're playing us, to how they play everyone else.

"We're obviously trying to work and adapt on those areas, and we are improving in those areas."

Falling at the quarterfinal hurdle three times this year, including their one-point loss to Spain in Biarritz, Australia has struggled to find consistency throughout the series and Manenti believes their lack of sustained success this year may be partly due to the mentality of his younger players.

"Unfortunately, the way World Series works once you miss that quarterfinal, you end up not fighting for the high points and that's the reality of the competition. We know that, and we've had to do it without some of our top players who would help us get through some of those games.

"Essentially a large part of it for mine was attitude. [In Biarritz] We had a really good day one, we'd had three tough games in beating Ireland, Spain and then Canada, but the unfortunate thing in sevens is the quarterfinals is such a crucial game, and if you're off a little bit attitudinally it can cost you.

"We didn't warm up probably as sharp as we should have [before Spain], maybe there were younger girls eyeing the prize of what might lay ahead later in the day, but you know a dropped ball, a half missed tackle, the next thing you know the rub of the green isn't going your way, and then you're walking off with your tail between your legs.

"We played well for lots of the tournament, and again like most of the season three or four minutes has been enough to keep us out of the podium finishes which is unfortunate.

"We're a better team than that, and it wasn't acceptable by our standards and the girls are very aware of that. We lost one game by one point and we finished fifth, so it's quite heart-breaking. But that's the lesson and I'd prefer to learn it now in Biarritz than in Tokyo in 2020."

Sevens is a game of one per centers, one loose carry can be the difference between playing for a top four finish and missing out on a medal all together, and it's something Manenti will be reinforcing as they search for Olympic glory.

"It's just opportunist things that we've got to be better at, I'm sure if we keep working as hard as we're working on defence, it'll continue to improve before we get to Tokyo."

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