Wales kick off the tournament tomorrow against Zimbabwe before taking on Uruguay and Argentina on Friday. The draw for Pool F has been quite kind to Wales but they have their world ranking of seven to thank for that. If they were ranked any lower and they could have been drawn against one of the big guns like New Zealand, Fiji or South Africa.
Selley began his Sevens career as a 22-year-old in 2003 but it proved a bittersweet experience as Wales were knocked out of the Hong Kong event by the Cook Islands. But since then he has become one of Wales’s most consistent performers on the sevens cicuit.
He has toured the world on the sevens stage and also competed in the Commonwealth Games – but this week is undoubtedly another step up.
“I’m really excited about playing in the World Cup,” he said. “The Commonwealth Games were really good and probably the highlight of my career but not all of the top nations were there. But at this tournament they will be. To test ourselves against the best is going to be a real challenge.”
As usual, Fiji and New Zealand are the favourites but Wales go into the tournament having claimed both their scalps in recent events and Salley says Wales are confident of putting up a good performance.
“Since we’ve been back (Wales weren’t involved in the sevens circuit for a couple of years) we’ve beaten every major nation in the world. New Zealand was the last team we beat, but we’ve beaten Fiji, Samoa and South Africa so we’re not scared of playing anybody.
“We built the foundations with Dai Rees (former Wales coach) and are now doing well under Paul John and Gareth Williams. Winning bowls and plates is a nice consolation prize but we want to be in the quarter finals and consistently reaching them.”
Despite having two minnows in their group, Argentina pose a real threat as they have been one of the most consistent performers on the international circuit.
“To reach the quarter-finals is going to be a tough challenge,” admitted Selley. “But it could have been harder. Argentina won the last tournament but they aren’t as formidable as others. We’ve beaten them on numerous occasions in the past but first and foremost we have to win our pool games and finish top of the pool.”
Welsh Rugby Union Chief Executive Roger Lewis has given the World Cup the thumbs up, saying there is a particular significance to this year’s tournament.
“This Rugby World Cup is particularly important. Not only is it showcasing the finest emerging talent in the world today – and we’re certainly very proud of what Wales have achieved down in Wellington where we beat New Zealand – but this World Cup is so important because this is our showcase for rugby with the 2016 Olympic Game in mind.
“Not only the eyes of the rugby world will see the tournament, but the Olympic sporting world will be watching as well and we see sevens as the perfect vehicle to get both men’s and women’s rugby in the Olympics.”
Roger Lewis interview
