Charlie Hayter loving life in Sevens as England make bid for Las Vegas win
Friday 3 March 2017 11:07, UK
Charlie Hayter spoke to Sky Sports ahead of England's bid for tournament success at the Las Vegas Sevens this weekend.
Former Wasps centre Hayter made the switch to full-time Sevens in July 2014, joining up with the England squad before heading to Rio as a travelling reserve for Team GB in last year's Olympics.
The 28-year-old is enjoying life in the shortened version of the game, but says he had to adapt his approach to preparation.
"There's a different element of fitness to Sevens," Hayter told Sky Sports. "It's mainly the two-day or three-day tournaments; having to get up and go again and switching yourself on and off multiple times through the day makes it a big mental as well as physical challenge.
"Dealing with your emotions and physical state throughout those two or three days is probably the biggest challenge, I've found.
"Different tournaments, different pitches, and different oppositions bring very different challenges, it's just about being smart with that.
"It's been a great challenge for me. I love being a part of the Sevens - I love the 15-man game as well, but being part of Sevens is great fun."
After four tournaments in the 2016/17 series, England are currently second in the standings, one place behind South Africa who have won three of the four.
"We've played some good rugby and been smart in what we've done fairly consistently. It's just about getting it as slick as you can really," Hayter added.
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"South Africa are leading the table at the moment and have played some really great rugby throughout the year.
"We are happy with where we are, but we know there's a long way to go in the season - we're only four tournaments in, so we will keep pushing."
For this weekend's Las Vegas edition, England have named an unchanged squad for a fifth successive tournament, and Hayter says that familiarity within the camp has contributed to the team's success.
"It makes a massive difference having that 12-man effort that we've had," he said.
"You can see in the last few tournaments, the bench has sometimes come off and won us the game, and having that consistency has really helped.
"We've got some boys back home who are pushing hard for places, so there's definitely competition within the squad, but we've been fortunate with injuries - our team and physios have managed us very well.
"That's helped us on the pitch because we've got 12 guys who are all capable of putting in a top performance and adding to the squad."
England have never won the Sevens series, but are well poised to make a title bid this year. However Hayter maintains that the focus of the squad rarely goes past the upcoming weekend.
"It sounds pretty cliché but we haven't really thought too much about it. Our focus at the moment is solely on the Las Vegas tournament and we will see how it goes," Hayter said.
"This week provides a big challenge for us with the narrowness of the pitch and the physicality that's needed, so we are going to have to adapt our game.
"If you start thinking further along you can get your brain jumbled up with what you're doing, so we're just taking it one step at a time."
Watch both days of the Las Vegas 7s this weekend, starting midnight on Saturday on Sky Sports 3
