Selena Tranter has well and truly caught the Sevens bug and simply can’t wait to board the plane for Dubai with the rest of the Australian team who have the honour of kicking off the first ever Rugby World Cup Sevens women’s competition against China on 6 March.
In fact the simple mention of Australia playing at RWC Sevens 2009 is enough to bring a huge smile to her face and give her goose bumps, the abbreviated form of the Game having in her own words ‘given her a new lease of life and made her feel 20 again’.
One of the main reasons for this renewed enthusiasm is the creation of the first ever Australian Women’s Sevens team last year with RWC Sevens 2009 in mind, the new discipline giving the long-time flanker a chance to get her hands on the ball much more.
After all, representing her country on the world stage is nothing new to Tranter, she played in Australia’s first ever Women’s Test against New Zealand in 1994 and is the Wallaroos’ most capped player with 24 internationals and has played in three fifteen-a-side World Cups.
“I can’t explain what it means to me. I was there for the first women’s Test match back in 1994 and I played breakaway that whole time barring a short stint at hooker, so I spent a lot of time at the bottom of rucks and I wouldn’t give it up,” Tranter told RWCSevens.com.
“I am passionate about it, I love it to death. Training for Sevens has given me a new lease of life; I feel like I am 20 again. I get that much involvement that normally forwards don’t and I am getting so much enjoyment out of learning again.
A chance encounter with rugby
“I feel that big rush of adrenalin about Sevens. I am having a ball. I’m loving rugby all over again. It has been fantastic, I can’t wait to get out there to Dubai … if I don’t have a heart attack before then by being that excited!”
The 33-year-old admits rugby is a way of life for her, perhaps surprisingly given she only got into the sport completely by chance after overhearing her then boyfriend’s best friend on the phone talking about the first ever women’s rugby team in Brisbane he was coaching.
“I asked him what he was doing and he asked me why, do you want to get involved? I went there and asked him what position I was going to play. He said breakaway and I said what do they do and he said they follow the ball and I pretty much have been doing that ever since.”
That was a mere four months before she first pulled on the Wallaroos jumper, although sport has been a way of life from the days of playing in the backyard with her older brothers and then touch football, basketball, softball, soccer and various athletics disciplines at state level.
Fifteen years on and Tranter is learning all over again, not just about the magic of Sevens but also from the likes of Nicole Beck and the others in the squad who have enjoyed success with the Australian Women’s touch football team and been drafted into the Sevens side.
Beck quickly made her mark at the Oceania Sevens in Samoa back in July – a tournament which doubled as the region’s qualifier for RWC Sevens 2009 – and scored a last gasp try in the final giving Australia their second victory over New Zealand in the tournament and one which ultimately saw them seeded second for RWC Sevens 2009.
Devastated ... but then blessed
That was something Tranter had never managed in the 15-a-side game with Australia never having beaten the three-time world champion Black Ferns – until that is the introduction of the touch football players and former Australian men’s Sevens captain Shawn MacKay as coach for the qualifier.
“We had a few touch football players who came across to Sevens rugby and going to Samoa with them and a fantastic coach in Shawn MacKay, someone very experienced and who had us so well-prepared, it really gave us confidence on the field.
“It was really unbelievable to have him [Shawn], the respect of the girls towards him was really significant. His background of playing Sevens, his insight into the game and us as players and playing to our strength was really a great plus.”
MacKay will not be heading to Dubai, though, with the squad as he stepped down to concentrate on his Super 14 career with the Brumbies – a decision which Tranter admits was “devastating” but opened the way for Jason Stanton to come in and leave his mark on the players.
“When we found out Shaun was going to Super 14 we were all devastated because what we achieved in Samoa was very significant and we wanted to keep the momentum going and when we found out Jason was taking over we didn’t know him, we didn’t know if it would be different as there are different styles and approaches to Sevens.
“But we are really blessed to have someone of Jason’s quality of coaching, so while we were devastated when Shawn left, we couldn’t have asked for better. They have different styles, we are playing a different style of game, but in terms of their passion for the sport it is unparalleled.”
A winning mentality
Another aspect that has proved invaluable according to Tranter is the winning culture that the touch football players have brought into the squad and enhanced the other girls’ desire to return home with their name inscribed on the Women’s Rugby World Cup Sevens trophy.
“Our national touch football team has been very successful internationally and our rugby team not so much. The coming together was instantaneous, the connection we have, we are learning from them and they are learning from us and we couldn’t have asked for more from Samoa.
“With the touch girls coming into the team, the confidence they bring to the side because they talk about winning being a culture, you learn to win. Their, I guess, injection into the team has bred confidence, they are not used to losing, it is just not acceptable.
“They are coming into a new sport and are not used to losing and that has rubbed off on us. We are going there [Dubai] to bring it back, but in saying that we aren’t getting ahead of ourselves, we know it will be a tough road, we don’t know about the teams in our pool, we will take each game in our pool one at a time … but we want to be there at the end.
“I know some of the teams were playing in San Diego last weekend, we would kind of liked to have been there as it would have been good to play, but it’s nice to come in as an unknown quantity. In Sevens anything can happen. We will go in with our own game plan, we will go out with our guards up and ready for anything.”
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