7s coach Mike Friday admits top 15s talent can bring value to Olympics level 7s with 3 weeks conditioning

For about the last decade 7s people (coaches, specialists, other enthusiasts of the format) have had a strong scepticism over 15s players dropping into 7s as a narrative formed that the sport has in their view become far too specialised, and in particular has such gargantuan fitness demands relative to 15s, that it would require a lengthy many month transition impractical to nearly all top 15s professionals unless they effectively took a season off from their career.

However, as pointed out in a recent article on the post-Olympics state of 7s, some of the motivation behind this narrative was down to self-interest of the 7s people who feel insecure at their lower status next to 15s ....

In 2017 Science of Sport podcast host Ross Tucker (formerly of the South Africa 7s camp) accidentally let slip the real motivation to why there became such strong scepticism and even hostility to the idea of 15s stars going to 7s and doing well.

Tucker said: "when 7s was accepted into the Olympics, there was a fear (me and a few others) that what countries would do is to insert their 15s stars into their teams for the Games only, dominate, smash everyone, and [...] if that were to happen, then it would potentially irreparably damage 7s, because it would reveal the gulf between 7s and 15s".

The 7s specialists (who in Tier 1 nations at least are very often players those who failed to make it in 15s) over the years since 15s players stopped appearing at event had grown to really feel their generally lower status in the rugby world next to the bigger stars in 15s. So they really invested in a narrative emphasising how the demands of 7s are not merely tough coming from 15s (which sounds fair, as mentioned, not best arena to throw in old or injury ridden players) but almost otherworldly and that a seemingly simpler version of the sport had transformed into something so different it requires a long period of specialist focus.

This narrative was pushed in extremely hyped up terms partly out of 7s specialists fear of losing their spots at an Olympics to a 15s player of course, but also in order to boost the self-esteem of the sport, which they felt 15s players taking to with ease would make a mockery of.

In reality most of their fears were misplaced, as even in the days when many more 15s players switched over, there were always still specialists like Rush or Serevi widely acknowledged as the greatest in 7s. So the best 7s team is never going to correlate absolutely perfectly with best in 15s, and having 15s stars turn up for the Olympics, whilst unlucky for a few who will miss out, actually only increases the status and interest in 7s and prestige of winning Olympic Gold.

7s coach Mike Friday

Among those sceptical include the experienced 7s coach Mike Friday, so was curious listening to his interview with the Eagles Overseas Rugby podcast, where he says it is "a 6-9 month transition" for a 15s player.

As has been pointed out Fiji, who tend to ignore this 7s narrative for big events, drafted in three 15s players to their Olympics squad with what can't have been much more than 3 weeks preparation which contributed a strong boost to their squad on the way to reaching the final (which they hadn't reached all season on the circuit), is a bit awkward for the widely pushed idea of 15s players being quite so distant from 7s conditioning (as does their 2016 Gold medal winning team that did the similar with Nakarawa and Tuisova too). 

If going by what 7s people have long said then those players conditioning ought not to have been anywhere even near the required state to be fully competitive at the elite level. Yet they looked more than capable of adding value to the squad. Iosefo Masi played 79 of a possible 84 minutes and Selestino Ravutaumada beat the most defenders in the competition.

Friday was kind and friendly enough (big respect for that) to take time to reply on Twitter to queries on this and it proved an interesting discussion (he also had the similar discussion with Fijan Drua CEO Mark Evans who also pointed out that "maybe this line of “completely different conditioning” is not so accurate").

His view is that Fiji, and only Fiji, can select players without so much specialist conditioning as they play a "tempo" style (assuming this means somehow "slower"). Evans found this reasoning "dodgy", and indeed to be blunt it comes across as a highly unconvincing attempt to wave away the countervailing evidence to the widely pushed 7s specialist narrative.

Fiji 7s head coach Osea Kolinisau explicitly made
fitness his priority on taking the job but was still
happy to add three 15s players to his starting team

Certainly the Fijian camp themselves do not appear to view their style as tempo which is more accommodating of poorer fitness. On the contrary, Osea Kolinisau taking on the head coach role last March stated it is "a high tempo game that we are known for" and it "can only be achieved through fitness" and then went on to keep emphasising in further interviews "improving fitness levels" would be a priority.

It does not seem from those quotes like fitness was less of a priority for Fiji than other sides. Rather it sounds more like they were backing Josaia Raisuqe, Masi, and Ravutaumada to still be able to play 7s at that high tempo, and simply don't view 15s fitness as so far off that kind of talent can't come in and quickly add value (surely they would have even better still had they an entire season in 7s than only 3 weeks, but just as 15s camps know when selecting players on short preparation after tough slogs in Top 14 or Pro D2, not much can ever be perfectly ideal preparation wise for most Tier 2 nations).

This is nothing new, in 2018 successful former coach Gareth Baber was talking about how the side "will be playing with pace" to execute "the high tempo game we like", and also noted how the players coming from 15s (Nakarawa, Tuisova, Kunatani, Radradra), had "handled all the conditioning sessions we have put them through". In 2016 another former coach Ben Ryan talked about how Fiji "plays a very high-tempo game that requires enormous amounts of fitness", and in a more recent interview this year said "fitness" is key "to allow the Fijian team to do their thing".

This appeared to be illustrated in the quarter final against Ireland, which Fiji managed to win with just 28% possession, with the match finishing with them successfully making a three and half minute defensive stand into overtime. Incidentally the only two Fijians who played that entire game were Masi and Ravutaumada from 15s. It does not seem plausible to have much hope of winning a 7s game with that much defending at the elite level if those players had insufficient fitness. It is hard to see how a side can simply style out three and half minute defensive stands into stoppage time either.

Fiji beat Ireland in the Olympics 7s QF after
a 3 minute plus defensive stand in the last play

Friday then said "if these 2 playing for Ireland they not lasting anymore than 8/9 mins".

Again, it sounds highly dubious that players who lasted an intense full 17 minute plus match against Ireland where Fiji survived on 28% possession and made 5x number of tackles would not be capable of playing a full match if they were on the opposing team. But it is nonetheless a seeming acknowledgement from Friday, that unlike he and others have claimed, fit prime age 15s talent of this level probably doesn't need that 6-9 month transition.

In a sport where matches are 14 minutes and 5 of the starting 7 players are usually subbed, contributing for 8-9 minutes is basically similar to your average 7s player. So if they would have been capable of that on any team with about 3 weeks preparation since the end of the Super Rugby season. That is not at all bad.

How good would a talent like Immanuel Feyi-
Waboso probably be going from 15s to 7s?

When asked if he was Great Britain coach and two of the finest young athletic rugby talents in the country Immanuel Feyi-Waboso or Louis Rees-Zammit became available but only with around 3 weeks to prepare conditioning wise (like the Fijians roughly had) Friday reckoned they might have "7 minutes in them".  For that calibre of talent and at that age, this seems a conservative estimate, but still in a sport where over 70% of starters usually get subbed, a player who contributes strongly for 7 minutes is still well worth its place in the squad (it should be noted though that whilst the Fijian example questions the fitness narrative of 7s specialists, in terms of adaptation skillset wise Fijians are particularly unique, so probably advisable other nations do have potential 15s players hoping to be Olympians appear in a couple series events as trial runs in the run up beforehand to acclimatise to the format more, similar to what Great Britain did with 15s players in low key Rugby Europe events in 2016).

So overall Friday ended up almost acknowledging that plenty of top 15s players probably could in fact contribute and add value to Olympics 7s squads significantly quicker than the 6-9 month conditioning transition he was initially claiming.

As noted in a previous article on 7s after the Olympics, Dupont's presence "has brought more prestige to a 7s gold medal than there was before", and how big a deal 7s becomes "depends on to what extent 7s specialists want to gate keep against 15s stars (by demanding too onerous a commitment) entering as guest players ahead of the Olympics on quicker timeframes".

Could a such a huge 7s enthusiast like Friday (who is so enthusiastic about 7s he also reckons such a highly difficult format to follow could achieve the seemingly impossible and gain a year round fanbase) seemingly here moderating his position from a "6-9 month transition" be a sign that the 7s specialist narrative may be softening and LA 2028 on men's side could have a lot more star power (or even just more James Davies and Mark Bennett level 15s players like Great Britain silver medallist team had in 2016) involved?