Hi Sharks fans. Well, in a very interesting turn of events, Jack Wilson, he of the two or three Super Rugby cameos for the Sharks in 2015, has now been added to the England Squad for the upcoming Wellington 7’s.
Wilson has a very interesting history, having been born in England, yet playing for Bay of Plenty in New Zealand during 2012, the same year in which he represented New Zealand at 7’s in Hong Kong.
At the end of that year he moved to England to play for Saracens, although he only represented them 19 times.
In 2015 Wilson made the move to Durban, where his combined total of 20 minutes across three games somehow failed to show Sharks’ fans his true worth. Following the Super Rugby season Wilson then moved on yet again, this time back to New Zealand to represent Otago in the provincial championship.
Needing another change of scenery, and wanting to qualify for the Olympic games, Wilson headed to England and was duly selected by England 7’s coach Simon Amor for next weekend’s Wellington tournament.
I’m sure all of us here at Sharksworld wish Jack all the best on his personal ‘Road to Rio’.
Tweet
Road to everywhere
Really miffed that we didn’t see more of him last year!
That’s quite the road-trip. Best of luck Jack.
Hmm so you can play 7s for 2 different countries? Takes an interesting twist when you think that its now an olympic sport. Speaking of cameo sharks guys, i see paul perez playing in france now and looking pretty good on the wing-seems to have slimmed down a bit
@SheldonK (Comment 4) : Paul is with Toulouse I think, hey? He certainly looked good in the game or two I saw him play over there. Wasn’t he also at 13 once?
Apparently for the 7’s you can change countries and then qualify for the new country’s 15’s team, but you have to play something like 4 tournaments before the Olympics to qualify and you have to motivate why the guy must be in your 7’s team, so you can’t take props as an example.
@StevieS (Comment 5) : Yeh thats it, Toulouse- couldnt remember for a second. And yeh was on the wing but popped up looking for work a lot and broke the line often.
Interesting qualification rules for the 7s it seems
@ChrisS (Comment 2) : yes the time he was on the field he certainly showed some serious skill set with pace to match but hey this is the Sharks
@StevieS (Comment 5) : right there would and should have been the answer to the eternal problem at 13 for Sharks with JPP on wing,but hey this is the Sharks
@benji (Comment 7) : @benji (Comment 8) : 😆 hopefully the Sharks of last year.
@SheldonK (Comment 6) : He looked leaner and meaner.
Is there something wrong with our conditioning that players look better once they leave us? e.g. Matt ‘ET’ Stevens, Paul Perez
@StevieS (Comment 10) : To be honest a lot of it has to do with attitude of the players. Durbs is the easy lifestyle. Also we are very protective of pour signed players. In Europe they arent afraid to drop them if they not up to scratch etc.
@SheldonK (Comment 11) : That’s a very good point. You even see it at club level, the guy has been signed, isn’t that great, but continues to play 1st team or u20A’s.
@StevieS (Comment 12) : Look i understand why with the strength of our currency and sponsorship they cant exactly just write of a guy they paying monthly. But perhaps our contracts need stricter penalty clauses should guys not hit targets in terms of fitness etc.
@SheldonK (Comment 13) : That’s a very fair point. I think we’ll see this happening more and more in future as unions look to get something back for all of the money they spend.
Good luck, Jack!
If you don’t know where you are going , any road will get you there.
@StevieS (Comment 14) : Yeh i just think its a case of a company having to fully invest in what its paid for.
Good luck Jack!!!!
I would have liked to see more of him. We kinda missed an opportunity on that one. But then again we were trying to save a helluva mess last year. If had cut some dead wood early enough maybe he would have had a shot.
@StevieS (Comment 10) : I’m not too sad that Perez left. He strikes me as an I’ll disciplined lad who can not take instruction or structure. Samoa and 7 ‘ s probably best for him.
@coolfusion (Comment 20) : Ill disciplined that is
@coolfusion (Comment 20) : Yeh i think Perez was cut for his lack of discipline