Mike Friday believes England Sevens are in a transitional phase and will become stronger when they compete as Great Britain later this year.
England men failed to make it out of the pool stages in July’s home Commonwealth Games as they suffered a 34-0 thrashing to Samoa and a 20-0 reverse to New Zealand.
That was then followed by last weekend’s World Cup in which they were knocked out of the Cup competition with a 17-5 defeat to Ireland in the round of 16.
But former England 7s captain Friday, who played 15s for both Harlequins and Wasps and coached England 7s between 2004- 2006, believes it is not time to panic but feels major structural changes need to be made by the RFU.
Friday, now USA 7s head coach, told The Rugby Paper: “I just think it’s a period of transition. The Sevens game in Britain isn’t aligned to the traditional academy pathway route.
“It used to be but for one reason or another it’s not and I think as a consequence things need to be rethought from a commercial perspective and a talent ID development perspective.
“Aligning to the British universities and creating an alternative pathway is needed in rugby with the likes of how (Alex) Dombrandt and (Luke) Northmore have arrived back in the game.
“There’s a lot of rugby talent that can be captured and their imagination caught with an alternative route to what rugby can bring and not feel the academy pathway where a lot of players are spat out.”
England finished second in the World Series as recently as 2017 but since then having lost World
Series top points scorer Ben Gollings and record try scorer Dan Norton to retirement, along with the bulk of their 2016 Olympic silver medallists, it’s now a new youthful and inexperienced England team.
Tony Roques’ side finished 10th in the World Series this season but Friday believes they can rebuild and become a force again as part of a combined Great Britain team. He said: “Norton, Dan Bibby, Ollie Lindsay-Hague, James Rodwell, Tom Mitchell, they weren’t from the Premiership pipeline, so the talent is there it just needs to be nurtured and given opportunities to get there.
“I think with the realignment happening on the World Series with England, Scotland, Wales into Team GB can be good and I think they’ll be stronger together. The aim is to make it all come together for the Olympics but it’s probably not going to happen in time for 2024. It might be that they have to go one step back to go two steps forward.
“I think the true test is to grow their position and the game of Sevens and ensure rises in participation and put emphasis on retainment of players in Sevens at that university age, where we tend to lose a lot of players but where we can also attract female players as well. The proof will be in the pudding in a six-year runway to 2028.”
England women’s hopes of World Cup glory were ended in the Cup quarter-finals losing 35-5 to eventual winners Australia, who went on to beat New Zealand 24-22 in a thrilling final and secure a triple crown having already won the Commonwealth Games and World Series.
Fiji were crowned men’s world champions for the first time since 2005 after beating New Zealand 29-12 in the final.
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