Taking charge: Ben Ryan has already done great things with the England Sevens team

In his first column for IRBSevens.com, England Sevens coach Ben Ryan reflects on Sevens rugby's giant Vegas adventure and the latest plans for the sport back home.


What a development it is being here in Las Vegas. It's such an exciting move forward for Sevens and, while I don't think it's going to detract from what we're looking to do on the field, it gives these young men yet another new experience, allows them to play rugby in another place that they would not have otherwise have seen.

There were a lot of very jealous lads back in the Guinness Premiership dying to be on these two legs, first of all Wellington but then here, and it's definitely been a case of more players putting their hands up for selection.

It's not just that it's January/Febraury back home, it's cold and dark and games are getting called off while we're out here in sunshine, it's also the team dynamic and being part of that family.

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It's a tight community in the Sevens and they learn a lot about themselves when they're away, and in that respect a lot more players at the top end in England are now putting their hands up, without even mentioning the enticement that the Olympics have added.

Playing the conditions..

One interesting factor here in Vegas is going to be the size of the pitch and how the different teams approach it.

It certainly affected the team we selected and we've also learnt lessons from history and other tournaments where the pitch has been narrow.

At the Manchester Commonwealth Games in 2002 it was a fairly narrow pitch. New Zealand picked a team accordingly and went on to win it.

We've got a very tough group anyway in Argentina, Wales and Japan and have picked a team accordingly, but as a coach you'd be remiss not to have a look at the environment.

I'm not giving anything away, but there will be an element of physicality and confrontation in Vegas with the narrower pitch and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that in that scenario your out-and-out gas men might not be getting as much space initially as you'd have hoped, so you have to have other plans to bring other defenders in to make space for the outside runners, so it's going to be very interesting.

England: Sevens in the spotlight

The RFU held a forum on Sevens recently to take stock of the huge strides the game has made, not only in getting into the Olympics but also over the past few years. I think there's a general feeling that we now need to plot the way forward for the Game and I was very enthused by what he saw and heard.

With the Olympic factor, Sevens now has an opportunity to leave a real legacy in each country and for me it's starting in the schools system, trying to get a Sevens programme there and particularly in the 90% of the schools that are state schools and where rugby isn't currently the staple diet.

If we can hit the state school market and tap some of these talents that are perhaps going to other sports and give them the Olympic opportunity in Sevens then we are going to be in big business.

For me, one of the key factors is going to be how we can affect the season so that we can really attract all of those players. From Sevens they'll naturally follow into 15s, but it will give them that starting point which is only going to help both forms of the game.

There's talk too of a new Sevens league in England. It's a very bold statement of intent and a great idea, but I think they've got a tough time on their hands making that happen.

The big thing is going to be that if they want teams to be supported it's tough if they're invitational teams without a regional base. That's something they'll really have to look at.

I can't see it being about overseas stars coming over either, which there's been a lot of press coverage about. For a start, I think the home office would have something to say about that if suddenly the Series in England was bombarded by overseas players! As I see it, it will give an opportunity to young English players to play at a level and then try and step up.

It's still a huge gulf between international Sevens and invitational Sevens, as we proved when we stepped out into the odd invitational tournamnent and played those top sides, but it's another step forward.

Planning for the future

We just need to make sure that everything is coherent in so far as our pathways are concerned. There's not a single country in the world that has a very straightforward pathway for Sevens and we'd like to be the first country to have a bomb-proof and understandable framework for how players go from school to international Sevens.

I don't think Sevens will ever become a sport in its own right in England, at least I personally hope it doesn't, because I think Sevens and 15s can work so well side by side. The strength of the union (RFU) is something that Sevens would certainly never want to lose in England and we see it as part of our elite pathway into the England senior side.

Just as the Olympic 'Yes' has given Rugby a legitimacy here in the States, it's also definitely given Sevens more esteem and more backing in the UK.

That was already beginning to happen 12 months ago, when the broadcasters and particularly SKY expanded coverage in the UK and the Olympic decision came in on top of that and rubber-stamped it.

A well coined phrase is that it's 'a very exciting time for Sevens' but there's really no better way to put it.