“We’ve had a decent week’s preparation and the boys have applied themselves well on the training pitch,” says Williams. “The group is ready to test themselves in what will be a challenging group. Our intrinsic challenge is to prove consistency. We have shown we can perform with our semi-final finish in Dubai, and backing up with a quarter-final in Cape Town, and that will have made people very aware of us.”
The task for Williams’s young side now is to rise to the occasion once again this weekend after those good early series performances. The game between Wales Sevens and Russia opens the competition at 11:00 (local time), with Canada and Scotland also in pool D.
“We went into Dubai a little under the radar,” he explains, “so now we have to deal with expectation and proving consistency. Getting consistency from tournament to tournament will be a huge asset to us on our path towards next year’s Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast and the Rugby World Cup Sevens in San Francisco.”
Debutants James Botham and Elliot Frewen are the new blood in Williams’s Wellington squad. With Wales currently ranked sixth in the World Series standings, there is hope they can continue their fine start to the season this weekend in New Zealand.
Wales Sevens’ Pool D fixtures (Saturday 28th Jan, all times are local*):
Wales v Russia, 11:00
Wales v Canada, 14:24
Scotland v Wales, 18:26
Coverage of the Wellington Sevens starts at 21:50 tonight on Sky Sports 2.
*Note: New Zealand is 13 hours ahead of the United Kingdom.
Wales Sevens squad for Wellington Sevens
Owen Lane (Cardiff Blues)
Morgan Williams (Ospreys)
Steffan Andrews (Aberavon)
Elliot Frewen (Newport)
Owen Jenkins
Tom Williams (Ospreys)
Ethan Davies
Lloyd Evans
Adam Thomas
Sam Cross (c)
James Botham (Cardiff Blues)
Ben Roach
James Benjamin (Newport Gwent Dragons)
Matthew Owen (Scarlets)
