Starting in the rugby backwater of Montenegro next June, finally, the IRFU are embarking on a Sevens programme. David Nucifora, the union's performance director, revealed this week that a squad will be sent to compete at the bottom rung of the European ladder, Division C, this summer.
The cost, believed to be minimal in the first season, are not being released.
Players will not be paid and a coach has yet to be appointed but the provincial academies will drive the new initiative, Nucifora revealed. A 15-20 man squad will be largely drawn from the sub academies but amateur club players will also get an opportunity.
Nucifora was adamant the new programme will not impinge on the players pathway toward the professional ranks at 15-a-side.
“No, definitely not,” said Nucifora. “It’s not one or the other, I stress that. Those players will be able to continue playing 15s rugby, no doubt whatsoever, because we’re only talking about a small number of camps and a small number of tournaments in the first year.
“The game of Sevens has developed a lot over the last three-to-five years. How the game is played, it’s a very confrontational game now, so you quickly learn a lot about players – whether they can tackle, whether they can carry. That’s important to both forms of the game.”
Estonia, Belarus, Greece, Slovakia and hosts Montenegro will provide the initial opposition. Nucifora, the coach, could even take a hands on role. He guided the ACT Brumbies to a Super rugby title in 2004 and Australia under-20s at the 2009 World Cup.
“I’m conscious not to place an extra burden on any of the provincial teams, so the talent we are looking at here would primarily be academy, sub-academy and club players,” Nucifora explained.
“Hopefully, we’ll find players we haven’t seen before. They may very well end up players who are re-introduced to the 15s game at a higher level or they may be players who go on and play Sevens. That might be their pathway.”
It was previously estimated that a budget of €1 million was needed to compete in the elite 10-month world series (which could be offset by hosting a tournament).
“I’m not going to put out numbers, we haven’t gotten to the end number yet, but we’ve a rough idea of what it’s going to cost us. In year one, we’re not talking about a lot of money. We’re talking about a number of one or two-day camps from February onwards, that will lead into warm-up tournaments not too far afield and one or two European tournaments.”
Nucifora conceded the women’s Sevens team, which receives government funding of over €1.1 million that allows players them train and play “professionally” will find it very difficult to qualify for the Rio Olympics in 2016 due to last season’s relegation from the world series. However, the programme will continue long term.
“In both of these forms of the game, you’ve got to have a long-term vision. There’s no point in just coming into something and just think you’re going to do it in a year or two. You’re competing against other major rugby-playing countries. The game of Sevens is just going to keep developing.”
Regarding long standing concerns within the union about the Irish rugby model being unable to combine the two codes effectively, Nucifora added: “I think certainly at the moment it’s not in competition, they work together. They work together to be able to develop players for both. I think that’s very sustainable to be able to do that.”
Nucifora also said an announcement on the women’s 15-a-side coaching ticket for 2015 is imminent. The world cup semi-finalists currently have no conditioning plan in place nor is there a pre-Christmas training camp planned.
