CONFIDENT England women Sevens captain Abbie Brown wants her team to embrace an “amazing challenge” and bring home a medal from next weekend’s World Cup Sevens.
England travel to San Francisco as underdogs and face the daunting task this Friday of defeating Ireland in a straight knock-out before facing old foes New Zealand in the quarterfinals – before world champions Australia and gifted Canada enter the equation.
However, boosted by winning bronze at April’s Commonwealth Games, Brown told The Rugby Paper: “Our main focus is Ireland and it’s knock-out all the way, but we can take confidence from beating Canada at the Games and we’re challenging these teams.
“Although there wasn’t the consistency from us within the World Series and we didn’t do as well as we’d have liked, some of the games were amazing and the performances we put in against New Zealand and Australia were often very good.
“We’ve had some difficult injuries along the way but we got a bronze at the Commonwealths and that was a massive step in the right direction. We’ve definitely come a long way this season and we must embrace this amazing challenge to end on a high.”
Brown, 22, is in her second season as England captain and is one of the new breed of women’s Sevens specialists who have been contracted over the last three years.
It is a job she is revelling in, having taken a punt on a rugby career at a tender age.
“I left home in Exeter at 16 and went to Hartpury College,” Brown said. “It wasn’t an easy decision because I’m definitely a home girl, but I loved rugby and thought I’d better give it a good crack if I wanted to be involved in the 2016 Olympics.
“Rio was an amazing experience and although fourth place is not what we wanted, it was a great learning experience after being kind of thrown in. It helped me in dealing with things under pressure and being given the captaincy now is a great honour.
“There are great leaders around me, though, and although I have that role I’ll still look up to more experienced players like Emily Scarratt (right) and Claire Allan. They support me, I support them and I’ve picked up a lot of things from them over the years.”
While Canada and USA are top contenders, clear favourites to claim gold and silver are New Zealand and their Antipodean rivals Australia.
“New Zealand have some awesome players like Ruby Tui, Tyla Nathan-Wong, Portia Woodman and Kelly Brazier,” Brown said. “They’ve got a strong team, as have Australia, who have individually brilliant players like Charlotte Caslick and Alicia Quirk.
“Caslick and Quirk are able to control a game well and the Aussies also have Ellia Green and people on the edges who are very fast.
But we’ve definitely worried the top teams this season so we know we’re there or thereabouts.”
Women’s Rugby World Cup Sevens 2018 Fixtures
FRI 20 JULY
Round Of 16, Match 1 Fiji v Spain
Round Of 16, Match 2 France v Japan
Round Of 16, Match 3 Russia v South Africa
Round Of 16, Match 4 Canada v Brazil
Round Of 16, Match 5 Australia v Papua NG
Round Of 16, Match 6 New Zealand v Mexico
Round Of 16, Match 7 England v Ireland
Round Of 16, Match 8 USA v China
SAT 21 JULY
Challenge Trophy Quarter Finals, Match 9 Loser W7 v Loser W6
Challenge Trophy Quarter Finals, Match 10 Loser W1 v Loser W5
Challenge Trophy Quarter Finals, Match 11 Loser W2 v Loser W4
Challenge Trophy Quarter Finals, Match 12
Loser W8 v Loser W3
Championship Cup Quarter Finals, Match 13 Winner W7 v Winner W6
Championship Cup Quarter Finals, Match 14 Winner W1 v Winner W5
Championship Cup Quarter Finals, Match 15 Winner W2 v Winner W4
Championship Cup Quarter Finals, Match 16 Winner W8 v Winner W3
Challenge 13/16 Place, Match 17 Loser W9 v Loser W12
Challenge 13/16 Place, Match 18 Loser W10 v Loser W11
Challenge Trophy Semi Finals, Match 19 Winner W9 v Winner W12
Challenge Trophy Semi Finals, Match 20 Winner W10 v Winner W11
Championship Cup 5/8 Place, Match 21 Loser W13 v Loser W16
Championship Cup 5/8 Place, Match 22 Loser W14 v Loser W15
Championship Cup Semi Finals, Match 23 Winner W14 v Winner W15
Championship Cup Semi Finals, Match 24 Winner W13 v Winner W16
SUN 22 JULY
Challenge 15/16 Place, Match 25 Loser W17 v Loser W18
Challenge 13/14 Place, Match 26 Winner W17 v Winner W18
Challenge 11/12 Place, Match 27 Loser W19 v Loser W20
Sevens 2018, Challenge Trophy Final, Match 28 Winner W19 v Winner W20
Championship Cup 7/8 Place, Match 29 Loser W21 v Loser W22
Championship Cup 5/6 Place, Match 30 Winner W21 v Winner W22
Bronze Final, Match 31 Loser W24 v Loser W23
Championship Cup Final, Match 32 Winner W24 v Winner W23
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