Bermuda's top rugby sevens player has described the IRB's decision to axe the West Indies team from international competitions as "gut-wrenching".

Tom Healy said he was very disappointed by the move, which means Bermudian players will no longer have the opportunity to play at the highest level.

Healy, who was Bermuda's sole representative in West Indies side that played in the Hong Kong Sevens tournament last March, said the decision could lead to the demise of his team.

He said: "The IRB series is the highlight of the West Indies Sevens team's calendar.
"It is the only chance Caribbean-based players and Bermudian players get at playing at the highest level.
"This decision in essence will lead to the demise of the West Indies rugby team.
"And this all comes at a time when we are at our peak, given recent results in Hong Kong where we gave Kenya a good run for their money and competed well against fully professional players.
"This is a huge body blow to us given how far we have come - this last year has been the best one we have had for a long time."

Mr. Healy added: "As players we have to keep to our own strict regime of fitness and food - so that we keep in shape.
"It's tough to do and we only get together for a few weeks every year to practice.
"To find out that this has all been in vain is a real gut wrencher."

Mr. Healy confirmed that the West Indies squad would be appealing against the decision - but he said he did not hold much hope.

"The IRB would not have made this decision if they had any thought of going back on it. That is the simple facts of the situation.
"In the long run this could have a huge effect on rugby in Bermuda and the Caribbean -­ I know that if I didn't have the opportunity to play in competitions we have played in over the last few years I would not have pushed myself.
"And I'm sure it will be the same for other younger players.
"This decision by the IRB could signal the end of the West Indies rugby sevens team."

The West Indies current coach, Joe Whipple, said: "The aspect of this decision that brings me the greatest sadness is will the next generations of players be lost when they have so much to offer.
He added: "Although the IRB's decision was relayed by North America Caribbean Rugby Association there was no consultation with the NACRA executive or more particularly, the elected West Indies representatives.
"Personally, this process is troubling as it does not follow the ideals of the Olympic spirit which embraces the democratic process."

Source: Bermuda Sun

USA Sevens coach Al Caravelli underlines what the Olympic decision means to rugby in the States.

Justin Boyd helped the USA to its most successful ever season last year

The sport of Sevens, and all of Rugby, has just been handed an incredible opportunity, and I share the excitement that my fellow coaches and players have in the aftermath of the Olympic vote.

As my colleague and friend Paul Treu, the South Africa Sevens coach, says: "Life will change as we know it today with the inclusion of rugby Sevens in the Olympics".

On the evening of 8 October I felt like a child waiting to open his presents on Christmas day.

I set my alarm for 05:15 for the Friday but didn't even need the alarm. I woke up five minutes before it went off, turned on my computer and started to watch the proceedings live online from Copenhagen.

I could not take my eyes off it and was glued to the monitor until the vote came through.

During the presentations, I knew for a fact that Rugby's was very impressive, professional and gave all the passion that our sport brings. I very much enjoyed the comments and questions from the IOC membership and my favourite came from two members who asked why our Olympic event was only planned for 12 teams!

I also liked IRB Chief Executive Mike Millar's answer: "We followed the guidance of the Executive members of the IOC, but if the IOC feels we should have more teams, we will add more."

I can see that for the benefit of the Olympics, we should have a minimum of 16 teams, and the fact that it's happening in Rio is an even bigger bonus. Only time will tell.

"Even after my car was towed, I was still smiling"

Later that day I went into New York City to celebrate with several rugby people, since this is a historic moment for everyone in the global rugby family.

Even after getting my car towed I was still smiling. Nothing could have got me down on that day, and very little has since.

Now that we are an official Olympic sport it will create several opportunities for rugby all across the world.

Last week I was in Argentina, the country my father and I played for, at a Sevens coaching course organized jointly by the IRB and the Pan American Sports Organization, sponsored by the Argentine Olympic Committee and the Argentina Rugby Union.

This was fully funded by PASO and the National Olympic Committees, there was only one representative per country and I was amazed when I saw 30 people in attendance.

The countries represented were Canada (Morgan Williams, new men's coach), USA (Sue Parker, current Women's Coach), Mexico, Bermuda, Bahamas, Trinidad & Tobago, Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Dutch Antilles, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Paraguay, Colombia, Saint Vincent, Argentina (new coach, Nicolas Fernandez Lobbe) and Paraguay.

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This is the commercial that helped New Zealand win the 2011 Rugby World Cup

Gyana's rugby players are due to undergo four days of rigorous training under the direction of Technical Director and West Indies Captain Joe Whipple as they gear-up for the Caribbean championships in Mexico next month.

Two of the three overseas-based players: England-based Kevin McKenzie and Trinidad and Tobago-based Richard Staglon are due in the country this week to join the squad’s preparation for the games which for the first time, will be used as a qualifying match for the Commonwealth Games set for India in October, 2010.

Guyana Rugby Football Union (GRFU) president Noel Adonis told Stabroek Sport that the third overseas-based player Rupert Giles, may not be able to join the team until it meets Mexico as he is attending school and may not be given time-off. He expects the 12-player team to be selected at month end, two weeks ahead of the games set for November 14 and 15 in Mexico City.

Adonis said too due to the media hype about the team’s past performance and preparation for the North America and Caribbean Rugby Association Sevens Championship its fundraising efforts have netted positive gains. He said the GRFU is close to raising the US$35,000 needed for the team’s travel and accommodation expenses. “We are getting there,” he said, though he declined to give the figure raised so far. He also said government has yet to respond to the request for assistance but “we are still open to contributions.”

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Dorian Roach has just returned from an intensive Sevens Coaching course in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His trip was facilitated by the Bahamas Olympic Committee, to whom we are extremely grateful.

Click here to download a PDF of the iRB Sevens Coaching Manual.

Click here to download a PDF of the Rugby Canada Skills Booklet

This is Dorian's Report

Day 1

IRB Rugby Coaching Course 2009, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
I arrived on Tuesday morning and was taken to the hotel. The first day I met a few of the other coaches and we just really hung out all day talking rugby, specifically in our region. The first session started Wednesday morning, a lot of us were surprised as the whole presentation was in Spanish! Fortunately for us, we had Al Caravelli (US Men’s Sevens Head Coach) at our table who speaks fluent Spanish. He translated for us, but also added his comments and opinions which was great. Day one consisted of doing the Level I Coaching which was a non-participating course and dealt with the basics of 7’s rugby. We were also asked to watch videos of Sevens and analyze the teams and their playing patterns.

Day 2

Day Two was the start of Level II Coaching, in which we had to produce session plans for a game in a week for the teams we had analyzed (ours was Australia Men). We then went to the field and had to actual run through our session and coach a drill. We had established that Australia Men had issues which their defensive alignment and transitional play, so our drills were centered around those weakness. My specific drill was a defensive line being led by a sweeper and communication between them. After of field session we went back to the classroom for another presentation by Argentina and their patterns of play.

Day 3

Day Three was also another practical in which we ran another drill using our same team, but the game was to be played in four months. So these sessions were based on individual skill improvement rather than team adjustments. My skill improvement was effective tackling in rugby (tackling the ball as well as the player). We were then interviewed by Scott Harland who is the IRB Educator and he was the one evaluating us. I passed on all the proficiencies that he was looking for, all of us now have to complete a dairy of our training sessions, goals and games over the next 6 weeks in order to complete Level II Coaching.

The Good

I really learned a lot of new drills and game play patterns, especially from Al Caravelli Morgan Williams (Team Canada). I made a lot of great contacts and everyone was willing to share ideas and experiences. I have open invitations to join training camps with USA and Canada. The Argentineans also had some great information as they had not only coaches but players as well in the sessions.

I also got a lot of resources including:

Team Canada’s Seven’s Manual from Morgan Williams
Over 90 Drills from Morgan Williams
Nutritional information from Al Caravelli
Fitness information from Al Caravelli
41 Men’s and Women’s Games from Rugby World Cup in Dubai

The Bad

We only used one page out of the Workbooks, not one page each, one page total! It was a coaching class, but we weren’t really taught how to coach, but we were expected to do it in our practicals. The presentation was in Spanish! We were the luckier of the two English speaking groups as the other translator was terrible!

Thanks to Dorian for this report.