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Watch a high-level rugby union game and you will soon see that it is one of the most demanding sports around. Players need extreme fitness to work at high intensity, running up to nine kilometres in an average match. They also need speed, agility, lightning-fast reactions, power, and technical and tactical skills. To achieve this, teams and individuals need a coaching, sports science and sports medicine program that helps prepare them to play at optimum levels. The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) Rugby Union program does all of this and more for Australia’s up and coming elite players.

About AIS Rugby Union

The Rugby Union program was established at the AIS in 1988 as part of a plan to provide a coordinated national approach to talent identification and development. The program has evolved through the development of state union academy programs with the Australian Rugby Union providing quality control of these programs through its High Performance Unit. From 2003-2006 the AIS program incorporated athletes from 15-18 years of age with the objective of preparing these players for representative school/club rugby and post-school professional rugby at the Super 12/14 and Wallabies levels. In more recent years the program has included the National U20's team that competes in the iRB Junior World Championships.

To fully utilise the services and expertise of the AIS, the ARU re-popsitioned the AIS Rugby Program to become the Australian National Sevens Program for 2008/09 and beyond. Sevens Rugby presents an opportunity to broaden our existing player base in Australia. By using an established international competition that in many ways reflects some of the demands of S14 rugby we can better prepare a greater number of players for the rigours of Super Rugby.

Sevens also has a World Cup every four years as well as being a Commonwealth Games Sport and potentially an Olympic Sport.

The AIS/Australia 7's Rugby Union program is administered by the Australian Rugby Union from Sydney under the management of National Programs Manager, Anthony Eddy. The squad (18 players) takes part in the iRB World Sevens Series. Selection and preparation for the World Sevens Series begin in September of the previous year – all selection and preparation camps take place at the AIS making use of the state of the art facilities and some of the world’s best sports professionals.