BENGALURU, July 4 (Reuters) - Sevens stalwarts Henry Hutchison and Maurice Longbottom believe the growing crossover between the shorter game and the Wallabies is strengthening Australian rugby as players move between the formats around Olympic and World Cup cycles.
With Australia preparing to host the Rugby World Cup next year, Hutchison said the pathway between the two formats had become more fluid, allowing players to move in either direction at different stages of their careers.
"There's a bit of crossover between Sevens and 15s and 15s to Sevens," Hutchison told Reuters.
"We now have a couple of our boys in the Wallabies team who played for us a year or two earlier."
The 29-year-old, who made his Australia Sevens debut in 2015, said Wallabies such as Corey Toole, Dylan Pietsch and Tate McDermott had all progressed from the Sevens programme, while others had returned to the shorter format in Olympic years.
"We saw blokes like Mark Nawaqanitawase come back to Sevens and play at the Olympics," Hutchison said.
"And when it's the 2028 LA Olympics, I'm sure there'll be some 15s boys doing the same thing."
Nawaqanitawase has starred in 13-man rugby league code for the last couple of seasons but will return to union in time for the World Cup.
In a sign that the talent in the shorter game is much coveted, Nawaqanitawase's Sydney Roosters rugby league club this week signed Hutchison's Sevens teammate Dietrich Roache.
Australia is not alone in tapping 15s talent for the Olympics. France scrumhalf Antoine Dupont made the switch for the 2024 Paris Games and led the host nation to gold.
Longbottom, a supremely gifted player who was considered too small to play full-blown league or union, said he would prefer it if the Sevens programme was able to retain its top talent.
"We don't really want to lose any players to the 15s game," Longbottom said.
"I've already lost a couple at the moment. A couple of boys are signing with the Western Force back home in Super Rugby.
"It's good to see those boys take their own journey and we wish them all the best. But at the same time, we want to try and keep our players in our team and we've got the Olympics coming so we've got our own goals to look forward to."
GROWTH OF SEVENS
Hutchison and Longbottom said Sevens was continuing to expand globally, particularly in emerging rugby nations, with the format offering a more accessible pathway into the sport.
The Australians were in India for the second season of the Rugby Premier League, which wrapped up last week with Longbottom winning the title with Hyderabad Heroes and Hutchison played for the Bengaluru Bravehearts.
"Sevens is getting picked up a bit quicker by emerging nations," said Hutchison.
"You need fewer players and the Olympic Games allow all countries an opportunity to qualify.
"The game is changing. It's become a lot more set-piece dominated, more defence-focused and physically focused. You need strong platforms from scrums and line-outs rather than just free-flowing rugby all the time."
(Reporting by Suramya Kaushik in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
