Underperforming England must step up and focus on Rio, says former captain

Like most players, former England sevens captain Ollie Phillips is also dreaming of competing at the Rio Olympics when rugby sevens makes its debut.

A dashing playmaker, Phillips has not represented England for two seasons or more due to a nasty calf injury, but despite his age, 32, the IRB International Sevens Player of the Year in 2009 is resolute that he can win back his place in the England side for Rio.

“I’m a very determined human being and I will be doing everything to try and overcome my injury and get myself back on the field,” Phillips said while in town last week during the Rugby World Cup Trophy Tour.

His absence from the Red Rose sevens set-up seems to have left a huge vacuum, with the team struggling to make an impact this season on the HSBC Sevens World Series. After the first three legs – Australia, Dubai and South Africa – England are lying in sixth place in the standings, nine points behind fourth-placed Australia.

With the top four teams qualifying directly for the Rio Olympics, this season’s series has taken on added significance. England was nominated by the rest of the Home Unions as the team to carry qualifying hopes for Great Britain.

The traditional powers from the southern hemisphere have filled the top four spots. South Africa, winner of the last two legs, including last weekend on home turf, top the standings with 59 points, followed by Fiji (51), New Zealand (47) and Australia (46).

England (37) trail in the race behind fifth-placed Argentina (40), and Phillips says the pressure is on the Red Rose to perform.

“There is still a long way to go and I’m not worried,” he said. “England were unlucky in Dubai after we lost two key players – James Rodwell and Dan Bibby – during the opening leg in Dubai.

“We need them fit again and we need our big-name players like Dan Norton and Tom Mitchell to really step up,” Phillips added.

After reaching the semi-finals in Dubai, England failed to get into the last four in the following two legs. Hong Kong, the seventh leg, always brings out the best from England but they can’t leave it too late if the country is to benefit from rugby being back at the Games.

“To have rugby in the Olympics is fantastic for the sport, but to have a Great Britain team in the tournament vying for a medal will galvanise the whole nation and only encourage more people to get involved in the game,” Phillips said.

It certainly will. And not just in the UK. Talk to players like Hong Kong winger Salom Yiu Kam-shing and you can hear the excitement in their voices when the topic of Olympic sevens comes up.

For Hong Kong, our best chance of qualifying will be by winning the Asian qualifiers to be played at home sometime next October or November. We will have just one giant hurdle to cross – Japan.

If Gareth Baber’s men fail to win the Asian qualifiers and grab that solitary direct berth to Rio then the task becomes all-but impossible with the world repêchage likely to include many teams – Canada, France, Portugal – who have been hardened by playing in the Sevens World Series.

All the focus next year will be on Olympic qualifying. Every effort and resource must be made and to ensure Hong Kong qualifies.