Forward Cai Devine described Dubai and Cape Town as “definitely a tough couple of weeks” for new head coach Darren Edwards’s young charges. “With our age profile and the squad being relatively inexperienced on the World Series – we also introduced three new caps over the two weekends – we knew it would be tough,” says the 21-year-old.
On opening day of both tournaments, Wales were up against number one-ranked New Zealand, which provided a baptism of fire for the sevens newcomers. Devine says: “We faced some very talented teams, all of which are preparing for the upcoming Olympics, but that doesn’t excuse us.
“Thankfully we’ve got a good chunk of time between now and the next two tournaments where we’ve got a big opportunity to continue developing our game and progress with the aim of closing the performance gap on our opposition.”
The sevens programme has seen influential figures such as Sam Cross, Luke Morgan and, most recently, Owen Jenkins become mainstays in regional rugby – not to mentioned capped at international XVs level – and there are high hopes that a number of the current crop will follow a similar path.
“We may not have had the best results this weekend, but what was important was that we showed growth in our game,” says Devine. “We demonstrated that we are capable of competing at this level and we’ll all be champing at the bit to prove ourselves when the next opportunity to put the jersey on comes our way.”
That opportunity will come in Hamilton, New Zealand, in just over a month’s time (25-26 Jan), with Sydney (1-2 Feb) hot on its heels.
For fixtures and results from the World Rugby Sevens Series, click here.
