Piper Duck: Sevens stars won't 'walk' into Wallaroos

Returning ex-Wallaroos captain Piper Duck is welcoming the influx of sevens aces striving to break into the 15-a-side national team for this year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup in England.

Nine stars, including world sevens player of year Maddison Levi, her younger sister Teagan, Paris Olympics captain Isabella Nasser and Rio gold medallist Charlotte Caslick, will feature in the 2025 Super Rugby Women’s competition in the hope of pushing their World Cup claims.

Both Duck and Wallaroos coach Jo Yapp insist there’s only excitement, rather than any feelings of anxiety or resentment, within the Wallaroos ranks about the prospect of sevens stars stealing spots in the team for the global showpiece in August-September.

“They’re incredible athletes and at the end of the day we’re all competitors and this is all professional landscape,” Duck said at Wednesday’s Super W season launch in Sydney.

“Those girls coming in, they’re competitors as well, and they’re not just going to come in and walk into a position.

“They’re going to come in, they’re going to earn their spot, and whoever performs and whoever is the most disciplined, whoever brings that next level, will be on the plane to England.”

Duck, who was named Wallaroos captain in 2023 before enduring a depressing 12-month run with foot and ankle injuries, says the “healthy competition” for spots will only boost Australia’s chances of challenging for World Cup glory.

“As long as it’s done correctly and handled correctly by coaches and stuff as well, I don’t think there needs to be (any resentment) because they are incredible athletes in Australia right now,” said the NSW Waratahs skipper and forward enforcer.

“They are the only full-time rugby female athletes in Australia currently, so it’d be silly not to be looking to bring something like that in, right?

“And if they could earn their position to play in Super W, show that they are great at the game – they obviously have been exceptional sevens players and I can’t say they’re not the best in the world in my opinion – the competition is what we do.

“We compete.”

Coach Yapp says for all their talents, only a sprinkling of sevens talent will make the successful transition into the Wallaroos line-up.

“We’re not just going to fly somebody in a week before the World Cup,” she said at the launch at North Sydney Oval, which will host this year’s Super Rugby Women’s final for the first time.

“So you know it’s not going to be yes, all nine are going to come in and take over. That’s not realistic.

“But at the same time, we need to work with them all individually. It’s not going to be one size fits all for them, so we’ve had individual conversations.”

Duck’s defending champion Waratahs open the season against the Fijian Drua at Allianz Stadium in a rematch of last year’s grand final.

While Duck declared the Waratahs “in good stead” to go back-to-back, Drua captain Bitila Tawake says her side are determined to win back the trophy after stewing over the crushing 50-14 finals loss.

“We’re definitely learning from last year’s finals and working hard in the pre-season and off-season,” Tawake said.

“We’ve made sure not to repeat the mistakes that we did last season.”