Netherlands start to count the cost

Dutch captain Anne Hielckert leads her team (Photo: NOS)

Perhaps one of the more remarkable facts about the Dutch Olympic Sevens programme is that it all began only four years ago. It is only as recently as 2011 that the team came together, after an advertising programme designed to attract talented young women to a new sport.

The ink on the agreement between the IRB and the International Olympic Committee to return rugby to the Games after nearly a century’s absence was barely dry before the Dutch announced their intention to create what would be the first full-time professional women’s rugby team – ever – stealing a march on the rest of the rugby world.

“Prospects looked as good, "says Krijn De Schutter, technical director of women's rugbyat the Dutch Rugby Union. “Sevens was a small sport. We had our programme in place early on, while many countries still had no infrastructure at all.”

Positive results in Las Vegas and London convinced the Dutch National Olympic Committee. “The rugby union came to us in 2012 with a good plan which we decided to invest in based on the level of the programme and the achievement potential,” recalls Maurits Hendriks from the NOC, who agreed to funding with an initial contribution of €72,000 growing quickly to €350,000 per year. Since 2012 the NOC have invested over a million Euros in the programme.

However in retrospect, perhaps, the limitations of the Dutch team were already appearing even then. Through the Dutch famously reached the final of that year’s IRB-sponsored London Sevens, beating Australia in a dramatic semi-final, a new, raw, Russian team playing a new and very physical form of sevens almost upset the Dutch at the pool stage.

Nonetheless the IRB were as impressed as the Dutch NOC. Amsterdam Sevens was given a three-year contract to host final round of the new Women’s Sevens World Series, and the Dutch were given a place as a core team in the first series in 2012-13 – ahead of Spain, a fact that raised some eyebrows (especially in Iberia) as, despite the investments, the Spanish were still ranked at number two in Europe, behind only England - and ahead of the Dutch, who dropped from fourth in 2011 to fifth in the 2012 European Championship.

The early lead the Dutch had gained was already beginning to erode. “We'd made huge steps but you should also recognize that other countries quickly switched,” recalls De Schutter.

The Dutch honeymoon in the WSWS did not last long. After a great first day in Dubai, where they had come close to beating Australia in their opening game, the Dutch lost all three games on Day 2 and finished eighth. It was an outcome that had lasting consequences – chiefly a low ranking that saw them drawn in New Zealand’s group for all of the remaining tournaments. When the series arrived in Amsterdam the Dutch were staring relegation in the face – they had to reach the quarter-finals. Drawn with New Zealand, Russia and China they had to either upset one of the higher ranked teams, or beat China by a good margin. They managed neither, shutout by the Russians and Ferns their 19-0 victory over a physical Chinese team was not enough. They lost out on a quarter-final spot by six points to – ironically – Spain.

All was not entirely lost – the Dutch could have won their place back if they had reached the last eight at the 2013 Sevens World Cup, but that ranking saw them drawn with Canada … and New Zealand. The resulting 10thplace was commendable, but not enough for coach Gareth Gilbert to keep his job.

Australian coach Chris Lane joined the team, with the tough job of now trying keep up with a world that was now following the Dutch model and going professional almost across the board. The signs were promising again but then the 2014 Amsterdam Sevens saw the Dutch lose a key game to Brazil (who they had never previously lost to) with a quarter-final place beckoning. On paper that did not matter, but when only a few months later in the WSWS qualifier the Dutch were again faced with a must-win game against lower ranked opposition that they had never lost to (this time South Africa) they again slipped up, losing 22-5 and giving them another year in the wilderness.

And so fast-forward to last weekend, and yet another must-win game, this time against Portugal – again lower ranked opposition that they had always beaten in the past (28-0 just weeks before).

When the dust settled captain Anne Hielckert was both blunt and honest when she spoke to Dutch broadcaster NOS yesterday:

“This is unreal,” she said. “You take into account disaster scenarios, but to be thrown out by Portugal, who we have never lost to, that makes it extra painful."But that's part of sport. You must peak at crucial moments, and do what you have to do. If you did not succeed then you come to but one conclusion - that you are simply not goodenough."

Looking back at the programme as a whole De Schutter is also philosophical. “There are positives and negatives, and we made some mistakes. Maybe we went too fast with a core group of players where the competition for places in the team was not enough. But our junior training program for 12 year-olds only began six years ago, and only now are the first girls coming through.

''We will have to formulate a new plan and new targets. But first we step back and take some time away.We have to get past the emotion and be careful not to jump to conclusions."

The next step therefore is for the players and management will now go on holiday away from rugby for a week or so before coming back to evaluate the road ahead.

''It's all still so fresh.We need a break and I have no idea what's going to happen.Nor do the technical staff.It will be clear in the coming weeks, '' adds Hielckert.

The first threat will be NOC funding – but it is not a given that it will be lost. Hendriks mentions other Dutch sporting programmes that have had poor start but which have nevertheless yielded results in the long run."The reality is always that some programmes come off and some not. Like all other sports, we will evaluate the future of Rugby Sevens. We knew that in this young sport and that a number of countries could catch up. We go forward now and look at the performance potential."

Coach Chris Lane certainly wants to stay on. “It is my intention to stay here and rebuild for the future,” he tells us, “World Cup and beyond, but the decision will not be mine”.

For the last word, we turn to Anne Hielckert:

"This is the end of this road, but that does not mean there will never be any more women's rugby at international level by the Netherlands. Our programme has ensured that women’s rugby has grown hugely in the Netherlands and that there are talented players running around who have great potential. For myself, of course I like it here. But I am realistic. I'm thirty."