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Ex-All Black Liam Barry named Australia Men's 7s head coach

Then Head Coach Liam Barry of North Harbour looks on prior to the round five ITM Cup match between North Harbour and Tasman at North Harbour Stadium on September 13, 2013 in Auckland, New Zealand. (Photo by Anthony Au-Yeung/Getty Images)

Rugby Australia has confirmed the appointment of Liam Barry as the new head coach for the Australian Men’s Sevens team.

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Barry (53) succeeds John Manenti, who left the role in August. The former All Black brings over three decades of experience in professional rugby – both as a player and coach.

Barry’s career as a player included representing the All Blacks from 1993 to 1995, followed by stints in Japan with NEC and Kubota. Transitioning to coaching in 2016, he served as a coaching director for New Zealand’s Sevens programs before becoming an assistant coach for the All Black Sevens, a role he held from 2017 to 2022.

Most recently he worked in a high-performance leadership role with High Performance Sport New Zealand.

Australian Men’s Sevens coach Liam Barry said: “I’m very excited to take the team into the next cycle off the back of what they’ve done at the Paris Olympics.

“It’s a great base to start from and it’s a credit to John and the management with what they’ve done in the last cycle.

“I’m not looking to reinvent the wheel but rather build on what is already there. The players are fit, fast and skillful and I’m looking forward to working with them.”

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Director of High Performance Peter Horne said of the appointment of Barry: “We are delighted to welcome Liam to Australian Rugby as Head Coach of our Men’s Sevens side,” Horne said.

“Liam’s proven track record in winning environments, combined with his passion for developing young talent perfectly aligns with the direction we are taking.

“Our Men’s Sevens side had their best-ever finish at an Olympic Games in August and are consistently one of the teams to beat on the global stage.

“We believe Liam is the ideal person to build a strong connection and successful playing group in the future.”

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The Australian Men’s and Women’s Sevens teams will begin their 2024/2025 season on November 30 in Dubai, with final squad selections to be announced closer to the HSBC SVNS series opener.

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HSBC SVNS Perth takes place on 24-26 January at HBF Park. Plan your ultimate rugby weekend in Western Australia with the help of flexible travel packages including tickets and accommodation. Buy Now or Find Out More.  

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Comments

5 Comments
M
MakeOllieMathisAnAB 16 days ago

Surprised by this appointment. Liam Barry has been working with NZRs Coaching and Mentor programme for almost 4 years now, focused on ‘improving the New Zealand’s overall dominance in the coaching space’ as Mark Robertson puts it.

We train up up a coach in the highest halls of NZ rugby power and now he’s suddenly employed by Australia?

Why are NZR not upset about this?

O
OJohn 16 days ago

Another nail in Australian rugby's coffin.

Why bother following the mens 7 team with a kiwi coach ?

T
Tk 16 days ago

Uh oh, still no fair dinkum Aussie rugby coaches to be found then?

I
Icefarrow 15 days ago

I'll never get why Aussies are so obsessed with the nationality of their international coaches. They always claim they've got the coaching talent, yet they're never winning any competitions, and the ones that genuinely have the talent are never interested in coaching Australia.


Who do they expect to get picked then?

O
OJohn 16 days ago

They are there but Rugby Australia is determined to strip Australian rugby of any pride and enthusiasm. They seem to have a death wish that will be fulfilled.

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JW 1 hour ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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