With less than six weeks until the Commonwealth Games in Australia, Tait is dreaming of selection for one of the world’s biggest sporting events.
Speaking from Wellington, New Zealand, where he has been on England Sevens duty he said: “To be selected for the Commonwealth Games would be incredible. I am really pleased to be in the core England Sevens squad this season and am hoping that my performance in the IRB Sevens will earn me a place in the squad.”
The youngster from Wolsingham, Co. Durham, admits that he has a number of rugby objectives this season both with his club back home and with England. Tait earned his first senior cap for England in last year’s RBS 6 Nations and has been named in the A squad this season.
He said: “I was really pleased to be named in the A squad and hope to be playing with the senior squad in the future. At the moment I am just concentrating on playing well for Newcastle and learning as much as I can from being involved with the sevens team.
“The season is going quite well for me so far. I have been playing regularly for the Falcons and hope to secure my place in the first team squad by the end of the season.
“Rob Andrew has been incredibly supportive, and we had a good chat before I came away with the sevens team. My involvement in the sevens is intended to develop me further as a player. The nature of sevens means that your core skills are developed much more than in XVs and I am already gaining in confidence as I improve as a player.”
Tait made his England Sevens debut in December 2004 when England won the Emirates Airline Dubai Sevens for the first time. He was selected for the Rugby World Cup Sevens in March but was forced to withdraw at the last minute due to injury.
He said: “I enjoy playing sevens at this level as it suits my game. I have always been quite quick and sevens allows you to run with the ball much more. With this being a Commonwealth year much of my sevens focus is on earning selection for the Games and helping England bring back a gold medal. The rugby sevens has sold out in Melbourne and I think it would be an incredible experience to represent Team England in front of 55,000 people. England have never won a rugby medal at the Commonwealth Games and I would love the chance to be involved.”
The England Sevens squad travel to the next IRB Sevens in Los Angeles this afternoon, and crossing the international date line on the journey means that Tait will in fact have a ‘double birthday’.
He said: “Just because it is my birthday doesn’t mean I don’t have to go the training!
“We have a session this morning and then fly to LA this afternoon. I have never really been to America so am looking forward to it. Everyone was disappointed to have lost to France this week in New Zealand but at least we won the Plate competition. Fiji are 16 points ahead of us in the table so we have to do well in LA.
“It is becoming obvious that more and more teams can win in sevens. It’s no longer just the Fijians and All Blacks who give us a threat, the likes of South Africa, Samoa, Argentina, Australia and Scotland are all really improving, and showing that they mean business.”
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