Australia and New Zealand leaving Pacific Islands behind in race for Rio Gold

Australia and New Zealand are leading he way in identifying talent for Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Photo: Zoomfiji

New Zealand: 2012 Oceania Sevens Champions. Australia: Runners up. Photo: Zoomfiji

With the London Olympic Games now a memory, all eyes are on Rio and with Rugby Sevens making it's Olympic debut in 2016, there is a great sense of excitement within the Rugby family. Since the 'Olympic decision' in 2009, Rugby and Rugby Sevens, has experienced a surge in popularity in both new and established markets. Member Unions, Governments and National Olympic Committees are committing increasing resources to Rugby Sevens in a bid to firstly qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and then, to ensure a podium finish.

The real winner has been Women's Rugby - which, courtesy of the Olympic Games, is finally enjoying the attention of administrators that an Olympic sport commands.

Many countries will be targeting the Women's Rugby competition in Rio as a 'Soft medal target' - that is, an Olympic competition where good performances - even a medal - can be garnered in a short period of time for a relatively modest investment. Women's Rugby would be considered as such because the majority of the countries playing the sport have not been investing heavily in it for an extended period of time (certainly not at the levels that the Men's Game has enjoyed) and as such, the likelihood of new and existing countries 'closing the gap' on the highest ranked countries is enhanced.

As such we are now starting to see an explosion in the number of Talent Identification and investment programs targeting Rugby Sevens - and Women's Rugby Sevens in particular. And two of the best programs to emerge in the race for Rio Gold are coming out of Australia and New Zealand.

In 2011 the New Zealand Rugby Union launched the "Going 4 Gold" Talent Identification program. Under the Program, testing camps are being held in each of the Provincial Unions throughout New Zealand in 2012 in the search for girls aged 16 years and over to join the National Women's Sevens Development Program. The "Going 4 Gold" Program is a flagship initiative of the NZRU's comprehensive Women's Rugby Strategy which you can view here.

Earlier this month the Australian Rugby Union launched a similar Talent Identification program targeting athletes with the potential to become members of the Australian Women's Olympic Rugby Sevens team in Rio - a strategy which is gaining broad media interest in Australia . The ARU are conducting trails this year in Perth, Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney in a bid to unearth a new crop of talented athletes and convert them into Olympic Rugby Players. It is a concept that has worked well for Australia in the past - a number of the team that won the 2009 Rugby World Cup Women's Sevens had been talent ID'd from touch football.

Of course, such programs require money - especially in a country the size of Australia. But that should not be a deal breaker. With established High Performance Programs in Fiji, Samoa and Tonga, staffed by full time world class coaches, administrators and sports medicine personnel, there is nothing stopping the Pacific Island Unions from implementing a nationwide talent identification program. In fact, the only thing stopping them really is the werewithal to launch a similarly audacious bid for Rio Gold.

The relative size of the Pacific Island countries compared to Australia and New Zealand (not to mention China, England, Brazil and other countries that are mobilising for Rio) means that they are better positioned than just about any country in the world to train a squad of Talent Identified athletes on a full time basis in the lead-up to Rio. The IRB and FORU will provide the competitions - they just need to work with their National Olympic Committees to find the athletes. It's not too late for the Pacific Island Unions to join the race for Rio Gold - but it soon will be.