China’s new rugby sevens coach Ollie Phillips aims to ‘challenge status quo’ – starting with Asia series
- England legend reveals he thought request to coach China’s sevens side was a ‘joke’ when the idea was first floated to him
- Former world player of the year is excited by possibilities of the talent at his disposal and is eyeing a spot on the World Series
When Ollie Phillips was first asked if he wanted to coach China, he thought it was a joke. No one will be laughing if his new charges shake up the status quo in the first leg of the Asian Rugby Sevens Series in Thailand this weekend.
The “joke”, if it had been one, was actually made in Hong Kong, whose team Phillips will face this weekend and whose rugby union chief had last winter introduced the Englishman to his now employers in mainland China.
“It [the opportunity] actually came from the Hong Kong Rugby Union, two days before Christmas,” Phillips said. “I know Robbie McRobbie [the union’s CEO] and I thought it was a wind-up, ‘Do you fancy being Chinese head coach?’ It turned out to be genuine, and grew from there.”
So did the size of his task when his hiring was completed in spring, with the expectation that Olympic and Asian Games success would come as part of the package.
With defending champions Hong Kong and South Korea considered the two teams to beat over the course of the Asian series, which moves on to Korea and the United Arab Emirates in November, Phillips knows his team are not high on the list of favourites.
But several months into his new job, the former England sevens star and world player of the year is excited by the possibilities the talent at his disposal presents.
