Australia break new ground to keep in touch
By Mick Donohoe
From Dubai
As the youngest member of the Australian women’s team Nicole Beck has responsibility for the time held tradition of carrying the team mascot, a soft and fluffy toy kangaroo, for the duration of Rugby World Cup Sevens.
But if her babysitting skills are anything like her rugby game, there is little chance she’ll take her eye off the ball.
The former Australian touch football player was part of a deliberate strategy by the Australian Rugby Union to target the country's elite touch ranks, which resulted in drafting five players into the squad.
"I started playing touch when I was about 14. I kind of just fell into it when I was playing at school just mucking around," explained Beck.
Those playground hi-jinks led to Beck representing New South Wales and Australia in Under 20s before the rugby talent scouts came knocking on her door.
Difficult transition
The transition to Sevens wasn’t as easy as first thought for 21-year-old Beck and her fellow touch recruits Bo De la Cruz, Rebecca Tavo, Shelley Matchem and Amanda Judd (who withdrew from the tournament after fracturing her left fibula during a training session), but it was the kind of challenge Beck relishes.
"I thought it would be more similar than it was. The passing and catching were the same but in Touch in attack you get back five metres and the defence goes back five metres so you get a lot more time with the ball."
The physical contact also came as a surprise.
"That was what I was most worried about but before we even did our first trials they took us through a lot of contact and showed us what to do so it wasn’t as daunting.
"Getting tackled isn’t too bad. Tackling is what I find is still one of the main challenges."
Similar skills
The ARU’s attention on touch not only netted a few elite players, it also brought in current Australian men’s touch representative Jason Stanton as coach in place of Shawn MacKay, the former men's Sevens captain who guided the team through qualification but is now concentrating on his Super 14 career with the Brumbies.
"We identified that touch and Sevens rugby were so similar. A lot of the core skills are similar," explained Stanton.
"My background is in touch as well so I was able to steer the girls in the right direction to pick up the parts of the game they weren’t so familiar with."
While Stanton had to explain some of the finer nuances of the game to his new recruits he says he was also able to take advantage of their natural instincts.
"Their appreciation of time and space is definitely something you need to work on with them. You need to coach some things out of them but some of the things like catch, pass, speed and footwork they do naturally so that is a bit of a bonus that hopefully we can draw upon this week."
The 'X' factor
Stanton believes his developing side’s biggest asset is being able to adapt to any given situation on the pitch. He’s also hoping that the ‘unknown factor’ will give them the edge over their opponents.
"We definitely feel that they are a little worried about us because they don’t really know what to expect.
"The ‘touchies’ that have come in are very dominating. Bo De la Cruz would be probably the best touch player in the world at the moment. She comes in full of confidence and to have her take a backward step and learn off the rugby girls is really good for our team culture."
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