Nearly 500 days since their last game, Australia’s women’s rugby sevens returns to the ‘unknown’

The 2020 World Rugby Sevens tournament would have been Australia’s chance to test the waters before competing on the biggest stage — the Tokyo Olympics.

However COVID-19 saw the tournament axed and the Olympics postponed, providing little insight into where each nation ranks in 2021.

“Teams haven’t played in over 12 months, [so] it’s a bit unknown at the moment,” 2016 gold medallist Evania Pelite said.

“We are not quite sure what other teams are doing and no-one knows what we’ve been doing.”

The reigning 2016 Rio Olympic champions, Australia, haven’t played against an international competitor in nearly 500 days, and like many other countries are in the dark on where they stand.

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“Five years ago there were only a couple of countries that were on the top of the women’s game, and now we have teams coming through the ranks and that have improved so much,” Pelite said.

Australia set on bringing another gold home

While coronavirus and the global growth of the game may have levelled the playing field, the Aussies are still set on defending their title.

“That’s obviously the goal — I’d love to go and win the first back-to-back gold medals for Australia,” Pelite said.

That’s why Australia’s six-match series in New Zealand against their biggest rivals — the Black Ferns Sevens — this week has so much riding on it.

“This preparation is going to be huge,” co-captain Sharni Williams said.

“It’ll give us some continuity in terms of players, combinations and selections as well, and it’s probably going to give Johnny [coach John Manenti] a bit of a headache, but that’s what we want.”

Australia will play two matches a day over three days, in a format designed to mimic Tokyo’s schedule.

After such a drought, Williams is desperate to get back on the field.

“We are footy players. We are paid to play footy, and we have been training, training, training, but there’s nothing better than to get out there, boot up and play the game that you love,” she said.

With international borders closed, the players have had to find other avenues to compete.

“It’s been pretty rough, especially at the beginning,” Olympic hopeful Madison Ashby said.

“All the girls went to Queensland and half of us were in NSW trying to do one-on-one zoom calls, then we all got separated into uni teams.”

Ashby watched the Rio Olympics when she was 15 years old and was enticed to the code by the prospect of Olympic glory.

“Being at the pinnacle of women’s sport, this is a dream come true,” Ashby said.

The 20-year-old is part of the next generation of female athletes benefiting from pathways that didn’t exist just a few years ago.

“I grew up playing league. Once that barrier stopped girls playing with boys from 12 years old, I transitioned over to sevens,” Ashby said.

Now she’s determined to go all the way again.

“It’s a brand new team now,” she said.

“Everyone’s very humble going into this tournament.

“All the older girls had great experiences, so are really pushing us to strive to do our best because we all have one goal — gold.”

The Australians are under no illusion title defence will be an easy feat.

“We’ve got New Zealand, of course they are number one in the world. USA will be a very good one, same with Canada and France, so it all depends on the day,” Ashby said.

COVID concerns linger as Tokyo looms

While the team is excited for the Olympics, they still have reservations about the risks in 2021.

“There is so much unknown. That’s the hard part, there’s not a lot of information out there,” Wiliams said.

“There are a lot of things that we can’t control, so when we get over there we are really just going to have to look after each other and look after our country as well when we come back.”

Some athletes are anxious about the games — but being vaccinated gives them some relief.

“At the end of the day it’s still going to be in the back of our minds, we just have to deal with what’s being dealt,” Pelite said.

“It’s going to be extremely different [to Rio]. It’s going to feel like it used to when we didn’t have a lot of crowds watching us — without fans in stands we are really going to have to rely on each other.”

Preparing for her first Olympics, Ashby says it’s a shame the team won’t have the supporters like in 2016.

“It is pretty disappointing not sharing that experience with friends and family but we are going there for a job,” she said.

“We’ve mentally prepared for this so we will be switched on and won’t let it bother us at all.”

The women’s pool round matches start on July 29 at Tokyo Stadium, with the final scheduled for July 31.