One of many main contenders to switch John Manenti as Australia’s males’s sevens coach has withdrawn, leaving Rugby Australia in a scramble to fill the pinnacle teaching function lower than a month out from the Dubai Sevens.
After Manenti bit the bullet to return to the 15-man sport following their fourth place on the Paris Olympics, The Roar can reveal his right-hand man, James Stannard, has additionally pulled out of the operating to fill the vacant head teaching place.
It’s believed Stannard grew more and more pissed off on the drawn out affair to lock down the subsequent males’s sevens coach and, after a lot consideration, has opted to return to Perth, the place he’s anticipated to be unveiled shortly as Simon Cron’s new assistant with the Western Power.
Stannard’s return to Tremendous Rugby, the place he beforehand performed for the Power and Brumbies throughout 5 years earlier than changing into a sevens specialist, is predicted to see a change within the teaching ranks on the Power with New Zealand assault coach Mark Ozich to depart.
Australia’s males’s sevens program doesn’t have a coach one month out from the Dubai Sevens after James Stannard adopted former head coach John Manenti out the door. (Picture by Bradley Collyer/PA Photos by way of Getty Photos)
The sevens guru’s departure leaves RA in a pickle 4 weeks out from Australia’s Dubai Sevens World Collection opener as a result of it’s understood the remaining three candidates – Chris Whitaker, Jim McKay and Zak Beer – don’t have expertise within the format.
Whereas Whitaker and McKay are two skilled operators within the 15-man sport, neither have spent any vital time in sevens. Beer, the rising Northern Suburbs head coach, has but to teach in knowledgeable program.
The dearth of choices may tempt RA to solid the web wider and communicate with somebody with a sevens background, together with Ben Gullings.
The previous England star, who is predicated in Queensland, was sacked as head coach by Fiji months out from the Paris Olympics.
Though his departure culminated in Fiji reemerging as a risk, the place they had been finally denied an Olympic gold three-peat by host nation France within the closing, his expertise is unimaginable to disclaim.
Australia’s males’s sevens staff fell simply in need of bringing residence an Olympic medal, ending 4 in Paris. (Picture by Pete Dovgan/Velocity Media/Icon Sportswire by way of Getty Photos)
Luckily, RA has nationwide efficiency supervisor Scott Bowen working throughout each the boys’s and ladies’s applications if the governing physique wants somebody to fill in briefly.
The dearth of proactiveness hasn’t gone down nicely within the sevens program, with gamers questioning whether or not they need to stay invested in rugby.
With simply 5 World Collection occasions set in stone for the 2024-25 collection, the game lower from subsequent 12 months’s Commonwealth Video games and no readability across the subsequent World Cup, many are fearful this system may go backwards.
