Sevens queen Charlotte Caslick has announced an audacious bid to switch formats and play in the 2025 Rugby World Cup after watching the Wallaroos punch above their weight in New Zealand over the past month.
The peerless Australian playmaker, who has collected Olympic gold, Commonwealth Games gold, a Sevens World Cup and three World Series titles across a nine-year career with the Aussie Sevens, is targeting a Test debut in the sevens off-season next year.
Australia’s world-beating sevens team returns home to the Sydney Sevens in January. Credit:Getty
She says if that goes well she will try to crack the World Cup squad in the lead up to the 2025 tournament in England. It was the reason she said no to another season with the Roosters in the NRLW.
“Leading into the next 10 years that Australian rugby has on offer, it’s important for us to be growing both sides of the game (15s and sevens),” Caslick said. “Watching the Wallaroos play the last few weeks at the World Cup, it looks like it’s so much fun and it’s something I’d like to have a chance at playing.”
Caslick announced her intent at the launch of the Sydney Sevens on Bondi Beach on Monday. The World Series tournament returns to the new Allianz Stadium in January for the first time since 2018, a golden long weekend in which Australia’s men’s and women’s teams both took home titles in front of a home crowd.
Caslick, one of the original golden girls who won the Rio Olympics tournament in 2016, has been a mainstay of the side ever since, riding the highs and lows of sport as many of her teammates moved on and the squad blooded a new generation of athletes.
Now, Caslick sees the benefit of cross-format exchanges between Rugby Australia’s professional sevens program and the Wallaroos, who remain an amateur outfit for now. Teenage teammate Bienne Terita lit up the World Cup pool stages in New Zealand over the past month, purging the disappointment of missing out on Commonwealth Games selection. Fellow Rio alumni Sharni Williams straightened up the Wallaroos attack with her direct style in midfield.
“I think it shows that the sevens girls add a lot of value in that space too and if we can collaborate better hopefully it can help both programs,” Caslick said.
The 27-year-old has the approval of her sevens coach Tim Walsh to try her hand in 15s next year and hopes Wallaroos coach Jay Tregonning will be open to the idea too. In her corner, you assume, will be Tregonning’s assistant coach Sione Fukofuka, who was Caslick’s coach at Brisbane State High School, the nursery that produced Samu Kerevi and Matt Toomua.
“He used to let me train with the 1st XV … I started my career with him so it would be cool to play under him again now,” she said.
The Wallaroos were knocked out in the quarterfinals of the World Cup on Sunday by a rampant England, who advance to the final four of the tournament alongside Canada, France and New Zealand. Observers believe Australia has the talent to compete at the pointy end of the next World Cup but with just three seasons to make the leap, Rugby Australia is under pressure to invest in its club and provincial competitions and make the 15s format an economic option for athletes.
“Women’s sport is absolutely booming in Australia. The NRLW has gone to the next level and you look at the AFLW having the same number of teams of the men,” Caslick said. “Our cricketers and netballers have had a successful year too and it’s awesome to see Australians supporting girls and – most importantly – buying tickets, because it means they’re actually showing up and watching games. The real life support has been pretty exciting.”
