Australia rugby sevens star Charlotte Caslick: Why winners and resilience matter

There are two main reasons why Charlotte Caslick and her Australia team have won every major rugby sevens title on offer over the past eight years: resilience and ruthlessness.

In a sport as gruelling as theirs, there is no space for sentiment, and a heavy emphasis on mental fortitude.

It’s an outlook that saw Australia, under Caslick’s captaincy, win the inaugural Olympic gold at Rio 2016, 2022 Commonwealth Games gold, the Rugby World Cup Sevens 2022, and four world series titles.

“We like to separate people between winners and losers and to be part of that team, we love to pick winners and competitive people that really push each other and have that competitive edge,” Caslick told Olympics.com from the SVNS World Series Grand Final in Madrid.

“I think when you play a sport like sevens, where momentum can change so quickly, you need to have that resilience to bounce back and keep going forward.

“Playing six games across a tournament, there's lots of highs and lows and so we're going to have to ride the roller coaster at times.”

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Caslick made her World Sevens Series debut in 2013, and she brought up a remarkable 50th tournament appearance earlier this year in Vancouver, Canada.

The fearsome playmaker is a two-time World Women’s Sevens Player of the Year and the most capped player in sevens history.

At the Olympic Games Paris 2024, she is set to continue breaking barriers by becoming the first athlete in the sport to feature at three Olympic Games, alongside teammate Sharni Smale and Aussie men’s players Nick Malouf and Henry Hutchison.

Considering her all-action playing style on offence and defence, the fact that she only missed six tournaments in 11 years speaks volumes as to her consistency, durability, and professionalism.

“I like to say that you won't always have motivation, but you have to be disciplined. So just showing up, every single day, even when you don't feel it. That’s the real secret to being resilient on the field.

But Caslick and her teammates have also experienced their fair share of heartbreak, usually at the hands of archrivals New Zealand, who beat them in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic final.

And it's the enjoyment and support that the group gives each other that has steered them through these tough moments.

“My teammates definitely motivate me. They are a pretty young group at the moment but they're experienced for their age. I would love for them to be able to experience what I did in 2016. So to lead them hopefully to a gold medal is definitely what motivates me every day. But I just love showing up and working with them, travelling the world with them and sharing a lot of special memories together.

“Rugby's given me so much. I just love representing Australia with the code of rugby, the people that I meet and the friendships I've created in the series. It's so special. And to have friends from all over the world that have come together over a common goal like rugby is the really cool part of it.”

Charlotte Caslick: rugby has provided opportunities for women in Australia

Rugby as a code has struggled overall Down Under in recent years in what is a very competitive sports market.

But the Australian women’s rugby sevens team managed to buck that trend after their gold medal performance in Rio, and it continues to be one of the fastest-growing sports in the country for women.

Over the duration of Caslick’s illustrious career, she has seen plenty of that positive change ripple through to other areas too.

“The perception around women playing sport has changed so much, not just in rugby but in sport in general,” she said.

“So to be, I guess, at the forefront of that group in Australia, there's so many women now playing contact sports, not just rugby but all different codes. So just the better accessibility that girls have from a really young age to choose whatever sport they want to do and become a professional athlete is really cool.”

Reclaiming their Olympic title at Paris 2024 will be no easy feat.

New Zealand finished the regular 2024 season playing some of their best sevens, while Olympic silver medallists France will be very difficult to beat in front of a passionate home crowd.

But blessed with experienced campaigners like Caslick, Australia are arguably the favourites, and have all the ingredients to make more sevens history as the only two-time Olympic champions.

“It would be amazing. Not only to be a three-time Olympian, but to be a dual gold medallist,” she said.

“I love to win. This is a really special team of girls and could finish on the podium. We know it's going to be extremely hard, but we’re up for the fight.”