England star Ollie Phillips backs Sevens to make global impact
For England Sevens star Ollie Phillips, who lost to Wellington College in the Festival final with his old school Brighton College back in 2000, this is the best place to see the future talents of English rugby.
“This unbelievable tournament is the No.1 school sporting event in the calendar. I remember playing there for Brighton College. It was huge then, but it’s even bigger now,” he told The Rugby Paper.
“It’s brilliant to see so many schools embrace 7s and this is the best place to see the future talents of England Sevens and 15s rugby.
“Michael Ellery, Sam Edgerley, Christian Lewis-Pratt, Marcus Watson who were in Hong Kong last weekend have all been playing at the national school sevens and so have Tom Croft, James Haskell and Ben Foden.”
The shorten version of the game is vastly growing around the globe, especially since it became an Olympic sport, and for Phillips, the fun throw-it-around attitude of the game is the key.
He said: “In terms of a starting point, it’s an easier version of the game and a great platform for the 15-a-side game. It’s less position-specific and as long as you can run, catch, pass and tackle you’re in for a fun game.
“From that perspective, Sevens is probably the closest to the schoolyard five-a-side football as you can just pick up a ball and throw it around.
“It’s fast, you score a lot of tries and you get to try flair moves and steps and that’s why kids love it so much.”
The 30-year-old former IRB Sevens player of the year made his return with England Sevens this season but injuries meant he could only be involved in the South Africa leg of the World Series.
England as a whole have been struggling with injuries this campaign and have only made it out of the group stages once in Wellington, a tournament they went on to win.
But Phillips is adamant they will be stronger for it in the future. He added: “We have been unfortunate with injuries this season where a lot of key players have been missing for most of the season.
“But at the same time, it has given the less experienced players in the squad the opportunity to step up.
“Things didn’t our way and the details have been lacking so far but we proved that when we’re on the money we can compete like in Wellington.
“People expect England to perform all the time and we haven’t done that.
“The pressure is building and we don’t want to make a habit of losing but we will come out stronger with a bigger and better squad.”
With his expertise on the shorten version of the game, Phillips came to the National School Sevens as an ambassador for therugbysite.com, a website offering coaching tutorial videos from some of the best players and coaches in the game.
From Sam Warburton and the breakdown to Wayne Smith and the attack, you can learn on the finest details of the game from the people regarded as the best at what they do and Phillips was quick to join them to develop the Sevens content.
He said: “To be given tips on specific area of the game by the people regarded as the best in the business is very valuable.
“It doesn’t get any better than having Dan Carter or Victor Matfield teaching you about the intricacies of the fly-half position or the lineout. It’s a way of making these untouchables touchable.
“The concept is great and we’re now going to try to develop the Sevens side of things to help up and coming coaches and players to learn about the shorten version of the game.
“The more people understand 7s, the more competitive the playing field becomes and it can only be a good thing.”
NICK VERDIER
Click on Therugbysite logo below to check out their website.
Ollie was speaking on behalf of therugbysite.com – Get Inside the Game with the world’s best coaches and players
