Hi, I'm Sam Cross. I'm from Wales.
I'm part of the Team GB Rugby 7s team.
(AGE 25, HEIGHT 100CM, WEIGHT 103KG)
Rugby 7s is fast and action-packed, it's exciting,
it's high scoring.
(SILVER MEDALLIST, RIO 2016)
I'm Sofia Mattsson from Sweden and I'm an Olympic wrestler
in the 53 kilo category.
(AGE 28, HEIGHT 164CM, WEIGHT 53KG)
We need to have a lot of courage and self-confidence,
believe in yourself and the will to really,
really want to win.
(BRONZE MEDALLIST, RIO 2016)
(RUGBY, WRESTLING)
(WRESTLING, RUGBY)
- Hi Sofia. - Hi.
Welcome to the Team GB Rugby base
at The Lensbury Hotel in London.
Do you know much about rugby?
Actually not.
I guess you're supposed to have a lot of speed
and there's a lot of body contact.
Yeah, I think it'll suit you with your wrestling background.
There's a lot of physical contact,
a lot of head-to-head,
so looking forward to introducing you to it today.
I'm used to getting close to people and I won't be afraid
if I get tackled or anything,
so I think that will come in handy.
(HE'S PUMPED!)
Well, welcome to my world on the mat
and today, we are going to do some wrestling.
Do you know anything about wrestling
or have you tried it before?
Yeah, in rugby we've done a little bit of judo,
just looking at taking people down.
Well, that sounds perfect.
I think there's going to be a few transferable skills.
In rugby, a very physical sport, bone on bone,
looking to move people and be aggressive.
(THE KIT)
Rugby, this IS our kit.
Pretty normal, pretty standard issue.
This is the top we wore in the Olympics,
so it's a Team GB kit.
First of all, I see you've got your Swedish kit on,
so you're in London today with Team GB,
so I got you this jersey, I hope it fits.
Thank you so much.
How do you feel about your singlet?
Do you feel comfortable?
Ah, yeah, not leaving much for the imagination,
but it feels good.
You certainly look good in the yellow
and blue colours I must say.
The singlet as you can feel is really tight,
it's so your opponent won't grab it when you wrestle.
That's what I love about wrestling is that
this is all you need.
(THE INITIATION)
The point of the game is you pass the ball or run the ball
and you try and get it over this line here.
Every time we score a try we get a chance to kick the ball
between the sticks to score an extra two points.
I'll quickly show you how it's done.
- Goal! - Goal.
Two points! So, here's the ball, there's the posts.
Good luck.
This is your first attempt at the Rugby 7s drop-kick.
Thank you.
Is it supposed to touch the ground before I kick it?
Touch the ground before you kick it, and then over the bar,
but between the posts.
OK.
Yeah, it probably can't get any worse!
Last attempt, so it will bounce and sort of lift up.
The ball, it feels unnatural to have a rugby ball
and there's a lot more technique than I thought.
OK, so, the first thing we're going to do,
we're just going just to try to catch each other's feet.
Every time you touch it, it's one point.
- OK. - OK.
I was surprised by how actually quick she was
and quick on her feet and sharp with her hands.
As I was going, she was gone before I could even get there.
So, basically I pretend that someone has taken me down
and I need to get into a bridge.
I'm going to show you and then you're going to try
to get out.
So basically I'm down here and then I just need
to be strong enough to jump out of the bridge.
The best thing is about mobility,
flexibility and to be able to use
your body to find what kind of muscles you need to use
in what kind of positions.
(THE WARM UP)
We normally get the balls in our hands,
get the ball passing.
I wonder if my hand is big enough to grab it.
So, if you start...
Slowly, in whichever hand you pass.
If you're passing right, right hand starts
at the back, left at the front.
Nice!
Super!
And then you with me.
I'm actually pretty surprised that he's very mobile
for a big guy.
(THE BASICS)
Here's the training part of the day.
I'm going to show you a couple of technical points
on how to kick a Rugby 7s drop-kick.
Just start square on here and you're going to place it
and then you're going to kick through.
You should never kick straight but always on
an angle so you've got that space, whereas if you're
straight you're going to kick with your toe
instead of your inside part of the foot.
Not bad.
Good. A lot better.
- Hey! - Good.
You have to catch the ball after I kick it.
I think Tokyo 2020 could be on the cards here!
Check this out.
This is our tackling pad.
This what we use day to day in training
to practise our tackling.
We go opposite foot, get close and hit them
with my right shoulder.
I get my left foot in close and
I'm going to look to get my hands
around the bag and then hit the pad.
Nice, that was good.
I was saying, with my sport, just give it a go
and don't be afraid.
This is kind of starting to look a little bit
more like wrestling now.
That was good.
First time being tackled by a girl, it's good.
I'm going to go there, tackle you
and then I come after the ball.
In wrestling you want to put your opponents on their back,
then you win, or at the end of the match
and if no-one puts
the other one on the back, they're going
to count the scores.
You're going to throw him all over you
until he lands on his back.
You're going to use your neck when you're jumping
out of the bridge, so you need to be able to move it.
Try to make one lap.
I think there's a few things that we do in rugby
which are kind of similar to wrestling, which mix in.
The strength work we do works quite well.
Probably the bit I'm struggling the most is just
that they're almost like gymnasts.
(THE CHALLENGE)
OK, Sofia, the final challenge.
Drop-kick.
Over the crossbar, between the posts.
You've got this, let's go.
(3 ATTEMPTS)
(TO SCORE A DROP KICK GOAL)
It's coming off the foot now,
so it's looking a lot better.
You're kicking the ball, you're not kicking
air any more,
so I think we've definitely improved from the start.
I think if you were a Rugby 7s player, you'd probably
be a catcher and chasing the kick offs rather a kicker.
- Thank you very much. - Thank you.
(FIRST TO 3 TOUCHES)
(OF THE OPPONENT'S FOOT WINS)
The first one who gets three shots is the winner.
One.
Two.
Three!
(3 ATTEMPTS)
(TO COME OUT OF A BRIDGE POSITION)
To the other challenge, and the bridge.
Yeah, good.
I think that's enough for today.
You were really good.
- Thank you very much. - Yeah, thank you.
You did great and you almost managed the last one,
I think just a little bit more training and then...
- Keep practising! - Yeah, for sure.
There's quite a lot of similarities
between our sports,
I think we found that out today that wrestling
and rugby has a lot of transferable skills with how
physical these guys are, which is very similar to us,
how much contact we have.
The toughest bit was just how fast they move.
First of all I thought rugby was really fun
and it was more detailed than I thought it would be.
It was more technical and the kick was obviously
harder than I thought it would be.
(SPORTS SWAP)
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