Max Clementson Exclusive: Why England will be “throwing the kitchen sink” at LA

When Max Clementson last spoke to TRU, it was just hours since his England Sevens contract was announced for the 2022 season.

At the time, Clementson was turning out for National 1’s Chinnor. In the months that have followed, the Hartpury graduate has played at every HSBC World Series stage of the season and represented Team England at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

Now, he and his teammates have just two more tournaments together before Great Britain Sevens take the places of England, Scotland and Wales’ men’s and women’s teams on the World Series.

Their trip to Los Angeles will see their World Series campaign come to a close. England are well out of contention for a top three finish, currently eighth in the overall standings, their last podium finish coming all the way back in January in Malaga.

As soon as LA is over, England and many more teams will be jetting into South Africa for the World Rugby Sevens World Cup in Cape Town. The final chance Clementson and his teammates to play together before Great Britain comes together.

“I have absolutely loved it,” Clementson told TRU. “There is no question about that. I would have bitten your arm off last year if you told me I was going to get offered a contract to be an England Sevens player.

“I always said that I didn’t know what was going to happen in the future after the World Cup in September, but I just told myself to have an amazing year, to absolutely love it and stay in the moment as much as I could to try and take in as much as I can.

“I have been fortunate enough to play in pretty much every tournament – well I have apart from one Rugby Europe one – it has been amazing. The boys are great, and we have got a really tight-knit group.

“The core group of the squad has been to pretty much every tournament, and we are really tight, and I have loved it. I am going to miss this group, because this group won’t be the same ever again.

“That is why the boys are quite excited about LA for, it is the last time to represent England Sevens at a World Series event ever. That is a massive reason the boys want to get picked. It is a bit of a last hurrah.”

In LA, England will be pooled with Scotland, Samoa and Kenya. Pooled with Samoa at the Commonwealth Games last month, as well as at the London 7s alongside the Scots, England will be tested across every second of the competition.

At the Coventry Stadium, England were humbled 38-0 by Samoa in their opening test of their home Games. Recovering against Sri Lanka prior to being beaten by New Zealand, England went straight into the melee for a ninth-place finish.

It was a battle that they would be victorious in, beating Uganda 31-7 in their final game of the weekend. Just a couple weeks on from his time in the midlands, Clementson described being a Team England player as “awesome”.

“We had a meeting the other night, and we did alright at the Commies, but we struggled in the first fame against Samoa, a lot of pressure, and we didn’t end up on the right side of the result,” he said.

“What was said that we have got nothing to lose. We have got no relegation, it is the last World Series, we have got nothing to lose, so we are just going to go out there and really express ourselves, throw the kitchen sink at it and see what we can do.

“Teams can do a lot when there is no pressure and you can go out there, express yourself and have a great time, which is what we are really going to look to do. 

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“We have three tough teams in our group, we are not shying away from that, but we are getting our prep done and our work done now. Hopefully we can go out there and get some success in our last tournament.”

When it comes to the future, Clementson isn’t looking too much further than the next challenge at hand. He and his teammates’ contracts were only ever nine months to begin with, LA and Cape Town the bookends of a hugely unique year in all of their lives.

Alex Davis will miss LA as a result of injury, the England captain set to make a return for the World Cup. That means that even before thinking about making the GB squad, players are fighting for opportunities.

“The boys are thoroughly excited, especially when we found out just before the Commies that it was going to GB,” Clementson said. “It was like ‘okay, in two or three months, I could not have a job’.

“But you are also like ‘if I look at it another way, I have got three of the best tournaments of the year to come’. There was the Commonwealth Games, rugby in LA and then a World Cup in Cape Town.

“That’s where a lot of people want to play rugby; in South Africa, the crowd absolutely bouncing. It will be something to behold.”

It is his attitude of taking everything as it comes that has helped Clementson cement himself as one of Tony Roques’ most relied upon players. As far as the 24-year-old is concerned nothing will change between now and Cape Town.

“If you are present and in the moment, it allows you to enjoy everything and be a lot more grateful for the things that you have,” he said. “For instance, this is our last week in camp.

"There have been a lot of camps this year, and to be able to just be in the moment now, enjoying camp, looking forward to our last training session together and enjoying that before moving on to LA. I haven’t really thought too much about the World Cup.

“I have been thinking about getting selected for LA and getting on the plane. 13 go to LA, and AJ [Davis] is not going to LA and only 12 go to the World Cup. You have got to tell yourself you are not picked yet.

“You have just got to enjoy everything for now, and you just don’t know what is going to happen in terms of injury, selection or anything like that. So, you are just enjoying the moment, being present and I think that puts you in the best place to really soak it all up.

“I have been to some amazing places this year, and I have loved every moment of it. There have been some really tough moments as a team. I made my debut in Malaga against South Africa and we got beat 42-nil.

“In that tournament we went on and won a bronze against Australia, so the way we bounced back as a squad showed a lot of character from us. I think we have had some great moments and tough moments. 

“I think that is what has brought us so close and so strong together as a group and why the squad is really looking forward to going out there for a couple of last dances together as a group and we are really excited by that.”