Their first opponents of the New Zealand Sevens couldn’t have been much tougher: Fiji, the winners of the previous round of the World Rugby Sevens Series in Cape Town. “They were phenomenal,” said Pugh of the Gareth Baber-coached side. “The boys had bit of shock, and it was a proper introduction to the series for the first-timers.
“The intensity and pace Fiji played at was something else, which just hasn’t been replicated in our training. That showed in our game, and that’s where we’re at as a group, but we’ve got to take those experiences and make it a drive for us in our preparation camps to help push us forward.”
Fiji started as they meant to go on, with their 54-7 win against Wales a starting point as they took their second title of the season in Hamilton. Pugh’s men then went down to Australia and Argentina in an ultra-competitive Pool D.
“It was a challenging group, but at the moment that’s the case across the board in the World Series. We talk about the value of the World Series experience for the boys – it was like being in Suva at times when we played against Fiji. It was electric and something that they wouldn’t have played in front of before.”
Whilst Pugh recognised that a winless weekend doesn’t make for good reading (Wales were defeated by Spain and France on day two) he was pleased to see his young charges, many of whom are new to the sevens format, make improvements in their game. Pugh said: “You don’t want to gloss over anything and say that we’re getting better for losing, but the lessons were learnt: we got completely schooled in the contact area against Fiji, and showed signs of improvement against Australia. When you’re new to the game, the lessons come thick and fast. Even though a game is only 14 minutes, so much can happen in that time.”
He continued: “What’s good to see is that there were improvements on the second day – and that’s not just clutching at positives. We were too soft in some areas, and a game can so easily get away from you in sevens. Our boys aren’t used to that, but we’ve got to trust ourselves and regroup for the challenge of next week and look forward to representing our country on the World Series.”
Pugh acknowledged that other nations’ sevens programmes were further down the line than Wales’, but added, “We are where we are. We head to Sydney for next weekend’s tournament and we’re not making any excuses.”
Among the bright spots were tries from Dragons’ Rio Dyer, the 19-year-old debutant scoring against Australia, Argentina and France. “For someone like Rio, completely knew to the game, he doesn’t know good he can be at sevens,” reflected Pugh. “With his x-factor, that blistering pace, he can be a dangerous player on the series. But it’s about instilling that confidence. You want him to open up and show what he’s got. He needs to learn about the game and keep developing, which is part of the programme.
“There were real positive glimpses from everyone, so it’s about grouping those things together. There were other new boys like Tom Rogers, and Reuben Morgan-Williams, who was excellent in our last game. It’s knowing they can do impressive things and going out and doing it again. They don’t know how good they can be yet – we just need to give these players time.”
Wales have been drawn in a pool with New Zealand, Scotland and Spain next weekend in Sydney Sevens.
