Wakley enjoying dual-code challenge

In one, he is the head coach of the nation’s up-and-coming sevens team. In the other, he’s part of the fifteen-a-side coaching staff – whose side faces Japan on Sunday – assisting head coach Rowland Phillips as they build towards this summer’s ultra-competitive Rugby World Cup in Ireland.
 
Most recently, he has been fully immersed in the abbreviated code of the game, with Wales competing in the Dublin and Amsterdam Sevens. Wakley names his squad for Rugby Europe’s Grand Prix Series in Brive this Friday, which means he’s welcomed all the game time his players can get.  
 
“We want to make some waves in Rugby Europe, meaning the build-up had to start before Dublin and Amsterdam,” he explains. “The girls have really shown an incredible drive in the sevens programme, despite the fact that we’re limited in terms of contact time.”
 
To a player, the team has bought into the twice-a-week 6am training sessions. Prior to Dublin, they took part in some conditioning games against England, England Development and Scotland at Bisham Abbey in Marlow.
 
“Bisham Abbey gave us real confidence leading into Dublin, which was a chance for me to blood some players I hadn’t seen before,” says Wakley. “I’ve been reinforcing the need to create a positive team environment, with no energy-sapping attitudes. The games came quick and fast, and as a group they were fantastic. We took giant steps.”
 
In Amsterdam, Wales were rewarded for an outstanding day one performance – 34 tries scored, one conceded – with top seeding on the second day. They made it all the way to the final, where they lost to an astute China team.
 
Just before Christmas, his Wales invitational team won their competition in Dubai. “We had one 17-year-old, a couple of 18-year-olds, a couple of U21s,” he says. “It was fantastic for the girls to go and win it, and the experience they got of playing in front of 40-50,000 people on the main pitch was something we could never replicate on the training ground.”
 
Wales, Ireland, Scotland and England get regular playing time against each other, so Wakley sees these tournaments leading into Rugby Europe as a valuable exercise. “You come up against different nations who are coached differently and play differently,” he says. “Some will be very physical, others will want to play with width. It’s great to come up against teams like Poland, Germany and China, because they do play completely different sevens.”
 
Crucially, his roles in sevens and fifteens complement each other, which is important with the Women’s Rugby World Cup arriving in August. Players go from the sevens circuit back into fifteens training camps feeling “fresh, fit and confident”, as Wakley puts it. “Sevens increases their physical capabilities, especially playing in heat and humidity, but they also get invaluable exposure in terms of skillset. We have the mentality that you play sevens to play in finals; you don’t go in there just wanting to get out of your group. We’re building a winning mentality, which is great to see.”
 
In the three weeks between Rugby Europe’s Grand Prix Series in Brive and the next (in the Russian city of Kazan) his players will go back into rugby union mode. “It works out well in terms of the way we’ve set up our programme,” says Wakley, “with many of our sevens players available for fifteens, so both camps win.”
 
Previously a coach at high-profile men’s teams such as Ebbw Vale and Glamorgan Wanderers, Wakley is enjoying the new challenge with the women’s programme. “I’ve found that players here are like sponges: they want to learn, do extras, and improve those one per cents,” he says. “In the women’s game, they are more willing to do extras because they understand clearly what they need to work on. You see almost instantaneous improvements in their game.”
 
This is the professional mindset Wakley is talking about. “I want to see a bit of confidence, bordering on arrogance. That’s the fun thing about coaching and player-managing.”
 
To find out more about more about the 2017 Women’s Sevens Grand Prix Series in Brive, click here.
Wales Women v Japan takes place this Sunday in Ystrad Mynach, with tickets available at the gate (adults £5, U16s free).