After notable results in the first two rounds of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series in Dubai and Cape Town, head coach Gareth Williams says his team is intent on righting the wrongs of Wellington last weekend.
“We’ve worked hard on identifying what we didn’t do efficiently last week, and that included going away from one or two key elements that served us well in Dubai and Cape Town” says Williams, who believes good communication will be key to eradicating the mistakes of Wellington. “Luke Treharne returning to the squad has also added an element of experience and leadership to the group. That will play a positive part for the squad.”
The team took the opportunity this week to go out into the Sydney community, including a visit to Lane Cove Rugby Club where they held a coaching session with the junior players. “These visits are something we’ve done in the past and it’s something the players want do more of, because it allows us to get to know the community and get a feel for these places we visit during the season,” Williams says. “Hopefully it’s something the children will benefit from and create some good memories too.”
In a highly competitive Pool B this Saturday, Wales are joined by Fiji, France and Samoa. “The group is a challenging one,” Williams admits, “but that’s the same as all the other groups. We know all about Fiji, but France and Samoa were threatening over the course of last weekend too, and there will also be a natural progression in their game going into Sydney, so we need to be at our best.”
Regardless of the quality of the opposition Wales Sevens will face, Williams says his team needs to focus on what it does best. “That’s a goal of ours: to make it difficult for the opposition to cope with us. We feel we went away from that in Wellington and so we’re keen to rekindle that spirit and style this weekend and beyond.”
Wales Sevens squad for Sydney Sevens
Owen Lane (Cardiff Blues)
Morgan Williams (Ospreys)
Stefan Andrews (Aberavon)
Owen Jenkins
Tom Williams (Ospreys)
Ethan Davies
Lloyd Evans
Adam Thomas
Sam Cross (co-captain)
James Botham (Cardiff Blues)
Ben Roach
James Benjamin (Newport Gwent Dragons)
Matthew Owen (Scarlets)
Luke Treharne (co-captain)
All the information on Sydney Sevens, including Wales’ fixture times, can be found here. Live coverage of the competition will be shown at 22:20 (GMT) tonight on Sky Sports 2.
