'A really fun year': Australian and Irish Sevens stars crowned world's best

Australian Sevens star Charlotte Caslick and Ireland’s try-scoring phenomenon Terry Kennedy have been named the Sevens Players of the Year at the World Rugby Awards in Monaco.

Caslick played a crucial role in the Australian Women’s Sevens teams incredible season, which championship success in multiple major events.

Australia won their first women’s World Series title since 2018 after a dramatic 21-17 win over reigning champions New Zealand in the Cup final in Langford, Canada.

The two traditional rugby rivals also went head-to-head in the semi-finals of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, which Australia won – before beating Fiji by 10 in the gold medal match.

Australia also added a World Cup crown to their decorated list of achievements in 2022 after beating New Zealand 24-22 in Cape Town.

Caslick, who won a gold medal with Australia at the 2016 Rio Olympics, was nominated for the Women’s Sevens Player of the Year along with two teammates – Maddison Levi and Faith Nathan.

After bowing out of the Tokyo Olympics last year in the quarter-finals, which Caslick described as a “disappointment”, Australia well and truly turned their form around during a “fun year.”

“I think for us we’ve just had a really fun year. We’ve got a great group of girls, obviously with Maddie and Faith nominated but the whole squads been awesome all year,” Caslick said after winning her award.

“As a group we’ve really reflected on the past 15-months from (the) Tokyo Olympics and that disappointment and turned it around and had a great season.”

As reported by the Sydney Morning Herald in October, Caslick is reportedly considering a switch to 15s ahead of the 2025 Rugby World Cup.

The Wallaroos were impressive at the most recent World Cup in New Zealand, before losing to England in the quarter-finals.

At one stage, Australia appeared to be on their way for one of the shocks of the tournament against New Zealand on the opening day, as they raced out to a 17-nil lead inside half-an-hour.

With the next World Cup only a few years away, Caslick said that she is hopeful about switching to the sports other format.

“Hopefully. Watching the World Cup’s been incredibly inspiring and watching the Wallaroos do so well and obviously they don’t have much support as what us Sevens girls do,” she said.

“Hopefully in the future we can hopefully help them out.”

Try-scoring talent Terry Kennedy also became the first Irish rugby player to take home the Men’s Sevens Player of the Year award, after a ground-breaking season for the men in green.

After qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics, Ireland went on to place third in the World Cup in South Africa earlier this year.

“We’re a relatively new program, 2015. But the growth has been incredible over the years,” Kennedy said.

“Starting at the bottom in division C in Europe and getting up to Tokyo qualification last year and then third place in the World Cup in Cape Town in September.

“I think it’s incredible what we’ve done in the last few years and hopefully we can continue over the next few years.”