Ahead of next week's Commonwealth Games rugby sevens tournament, Jon Newcombe spoke to Mathew Tait about his love of the shorter format of the game and how the multisport event helped to get his career back on track in 2006
For Mathew Tait, there was never any danger of him doing ‘a Justin Harrison' and slinging his silver medal into the water when England came off second best against New Zealand in the final of the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
Three years earlier, Wallabies lock Justin Harrison was so disappointed to lose out to England in the final of Rugby World Cup 2003, he thought the best place for the unwanted item hanging around his neck was the bottom of Sydney Harbour.
But Tait's view of his nearmiss, which came in the midst of a successful spell in the World Series, was altogether much more positive, albeit tinged with frustration.
Playing alongside the likes of Danny Care and Tom Varndell, the winger/full-back exorcised the lingering ghosts from his Six Nations baptism of fire against Wales in 2005, when he was picked up and dropped by both Gavin Henson and Andy Robinson, with a string of performances that showed him at his electrifying best.
“I get asked relatively frequently to look back on my career and that trip, where we had a week on the Gold Coast, played in the Commonwealth Games and then went to Bali, Hong Kong – where we beat Fiji in the last play of the game – and on to Singapore, remains the fondest time of my professional career. It was an amazing five to six weeks,” Tait told The Rugby Paper.
Tait finished the tournament as top try-scorer, crossing the whitewash 11 times, and was considered one of the players of the tournament. Not bad for a 20-year-old whose confidence had taken a massive knock.
“It wasn't long after my debut against Wales in '05 hadn't gone as planned and sevens was used – rehabilitation is probably the wrong word – to help me fall back in love with the game a little bit. It played to all my strengths, like running fast.
“I was lucky to have Steve Black and John Fletcher as my coaches at Newcastle because they saw the importance of sevens to my development. It helped to get me back on the horse.”
Having opened up with comfortable wins against Cook Islands and Sri Lanka, England's first big test in Melbourne came against Australia, a side brimming with talent from 15s, such as Chris Latham, Lote Tuqiri and Matt Giteau. England won 14-12.
“Sevens was used to help me fall back in love with the game'
“It showed how much of a leveller sevens is that even against players as decorated as that, we managed to come away with the victory,” said Tait.
Tait scored in the corner late on, and lost his boot in the process, as England maintained their winning run with another narrow victory, beating Samoa 17-14.
That set Mike Friday's England on course for a semi-final meeting with Fiji, the reigning World Series champions. Two tries by Tait and one from Simon Amor saw them prevail, 21-14.
“William Ryder had been a superstar on the sevens series that year, he was kind of the heir apparent to (Waisale)
Serevi, and we managed to keep him fairly quiet for most of the game,” said Tait, explaining the thought process behind the win.
New Zealand, England's opponents in the final, hadn't lost a match in Commonwealth Games history and were closing in on a third straight title with players of the calibre of Liam Messam and Cory Jane in their team.
Normally calm and collected, Tait admits he was a bag of nerves in the tunnel before kick-off at the Telstra Dome, but that didn't stop him continuing his blistering form with a spectacular try after just three minutes. England stayed in the hunt for gold until two late tries saw New Zealand run out 29-21 winners.
“I remember being really disappointed because I don't think they were that much better than us, it was just a couple of missed tackles, that was the frustrating part,” he said.
“Sometimes you can take it if you feel like you were second best but it was one of those ‘what if ' moments that I had throughout my career.”
The 36-year-old officially retired from rugby in February 2019, having enjoyed spells at Newcastle, Sale and Leicester in the Premiership as well as winning 38 full England caps and appearing in the 2007
Rugby World Cup final.
Tait's role with financial services company, Oakwell Sports Advisory, helps to keep him abreast of all the latest comings and goings in sevens, a format of the sport he will always hold dear.
“I think sevens is the game in its purest form because it is about one-on-one confrontation, speed and skill, and all those things,” he said.
“There is criticism from people around the game saying that not enough is done to promote sevens stars. It's always been seen as a poor relation of the developmental pathway to 15s and I think the way the game has evolved, it has become more specialist.
“But I still think there are opportunities for young players to be developed in sevens, maybe not be out of the academies but it's still a useful tool to capture late developers.”
