Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan says he was “incredibly disappointed” by the performances of the country’s sevens teams at the Tokyo Olympics – and the alcohol-fuelled antics of the men’s side afterwards.
Australia’s men’s team finished seventh in Tokyo and the women fifth after winning gold at the 2016 Olympics in Rio.
The men then caused damage to the Olympic Village accommodation and were “disruptive” on their flight home after “drinking excessive amounts of alcohol.”
RA’s high performance unit is now reviewing the sevens program with the help of board members and Wallabies greats Phil Waugh and Daniel Herbert.
“I was incredibly disappointed by what happened post the Olympics and our actual performance on the field,” McLennan told Stan Sport’s Rugby Heaven on Tuesday.
“I think that was a lost opportunity for us and I just look at what Fiji have done, where they’ve got fewer resources than what we have and they performed better.
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“So we can’t say COVID hurt us – the Fijian sevens team were basically locked away for fear of getting COVID for three months prior in their own quarantine bubble.
“And they performed so they’ve got less resources, great players – we’ve got access to great players, we’ve just got to do better.”
Fiji’s men’s team won gold in Tokyo – backing up their triumph in Rio – while their women claimed bronze after upsetting Australia in the quarter-finals.
Australia’s men’s sevens coach Tim Walsh – who won gold with the women in Rio – has signalled his desire to continue with the men through to the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
John Manenti coached the women’s team in Tokyo.
“I’d like to see a closer alignment with our current high performance regime and at the moment they’re quite disconnected,” McLennan said.
“We’ve put everything on pause at the moment and the same crew, being Phil Waugh and Dan Herbert, along with (chief executive) Andy (Marinos), are looking at how we can integrate the infrastructure and the player group closer to our current high performance staff and share resources in that regard.
“So again, everything’s up for grabs.”