Exclusive: Brady Rush’s “main motivation” to play in Premier Rugby Sevens after Commonwealth Games disappointment
Brady Rush was among the tries in San Jose last weekend as Premier Rugby Sevens began its 2022 season
©Alex Ho/Premier Rugby Sevens
It was only several weeks ago that Brady Rush received the news that he wouldn’t be travelling with the New Zealand Sevens squad to compete that the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
Now, the 23-year-old sits in Washington DC preparing to take part in the second round of Premier Rugby Sevens in the competition’s 2022 season. Launched last year with a pilot event in Memphis, Tennessee, the professional sevens competition has come back this year, hosting three legs across the USA.
Last weekend was the opening round of the competition, with Rush and his new teammates finishing the weekend at runners-up in the men’s competition, while the Loggerheads ruled the roost in the women’s contest.
As a result, the Headliners sit second in the Men’s Championship and third in the United Championship as their women’s outfit finished third at PayPal Park in San Jose, California.
“My main motivation was to get playing some footy,” Rush, when asked about why he decided to come to America this July, said.
“The boys are over in Scotland at the moment, and I wasn’t keen to be training at home by myself, so it is good to mix and mingle with some boys over here and getting to travel the States with some cool people and getting to see some pretty cool sights while I am doing it.
“The opportunity has come quite quick. I would have found out one day, and it was a day or two of bitter disappointment. One of the dudes over here hit me up to see if I was keen to come over and jam with them and I said yes to keep playing some code. I am pretty lucky.”
The son of legendary All Blacks Sevens player, Eric Rush, in the case of the 23-year-old, you must be quick to recognise how much rugby he still has ahead of him. It was only in 2021 that the full-back first got recognition from Clark Laidlaw, having impressed for Northland in the Bunnings NPC, as well as the 2020 Red Bull Ignite7 competition.
Competing in the 2021 Oceania Sevens Championship, where New Zealand placed second, as well as in the next year’s edition of the competition which he and his teammates won, before making his World Series debut in Singapore in early April, the first time the All Blacks were able to compete in the competition as a result of Covid-19.
During his playing career, Rush’s father, Eric, won back-to-back gold medals with New Zealand in Kuala Lumpur and Manchester, the 57-year-old having offered his son some words of advice following the disappointment of not making the cut for Birmingham.
“He just said to take it on the chin, train a bit harder and make the next one,” Rush said. “That was about it really.
“We have chats about rugby, but I guess it is all the same still, but professional rugby back then and now is a bit different. It is the same kind of thing, but he knows what it is like to miss out on things, and he knows what it is like to make things.
“He is just saying to take it all, live in the moment kind of thing and to just enjoy it, because it doesn’t last forever.”
With professional rugby sevens something of a novelty outside of international setups, much of Rush’s insights into rugby in the USA has come thanks to friends plying their trade in Major League Rugby.
Close with the likes of Beaudein Waaka [New England Free Jacks], who this week was unveiled as the league’s Player of the Year, as well as Jack Heighton [Rugby New York], Danny Tusitala and Renata Roberts-Tenana [both Old Glory DC], that quartet glowing in their assessments of rugby Stateside.
Joking that playing rugby away from home is better than the alternative of working back in New Zealand, the second generation player is clearly enjoying his time with the Headliners.
Mixing it with some of the crème de la crème of rugby talent in America, Rush says he has grown “close” with his new teammates since he arrived in California just over a week ago.
Playing with MLR stars in the form of Devin Short, Adam Channel, Lance Williams and Tommy Clark, it is certainly a team that can compete against the very best in the competition, with the Experts and Loonies boasting some athletes involved with Mike Friday’s USA Sevens player pool.
Finishing up his stint Stateside at the end of July in Austin, Texas, Rush will jet home to head straight back into All Blacks Sevens camp. His next destination after his home country will be Los Angeles for the final leg of the 2021/22 World Series, before a Rugby World Cup Sevens comes calling in Cape Town.
Still having the capability to win Premier Rugby Sevens after falling at the final hurdle last time out, Rush will hope to be heading home in the best shape possible and some extra silverware in his luggage.
“I’m just trying to put my best foot forward,” Rush said. “Just to show people what kind of rugby I play and how New Zealanders play back home.
“It would be good to get some wins as well, I know these boys are pretty competitive over here and they are a bunch of good rugby players. I know everyone is going to do well.
“I hope the boys [New Zealand] do well, I know they will, and hopefully they bring that gold home. It would be pretty wicked.”
