Emma Tonegato made plenty of headlines last season on the Women’s World Rugby Sevens circuit, finishing the series as Australia’s leading try scorer (21), earning selection in the Dream Team for the series-ending Amsterdam leg and being named as a finalist for the Women’s Rugby Sevens Players’ Player at the 2015 RUPA Awards (eventually won by Charlotte Caslick).
The 2015-2016 World Series couldn’t have started better for the Australian team either, with a competition victory for the ladies at the series-opening leg in Dubai which included wins over England, France and New Zealand before a 31-12 defeat of Russia in the Cup Final.
It may be early days, with four World Series events still to come prior to Women’s Rugby Sevens’ first ever Olympic Games competition in August, but the signs are ominous ahead of Rio; not that Tonegato will get ahead of herself.
“Dubai was really good; it was great to win and get that leg up to start the season, but as far as we are concerned New Zealand’s still number one in the world and we have a long way to go,” she tells RUPA. “We’re just going to keep training hard and keep moving forward.
“I’m so excited about the year ahead, but we have to just put our heads down and focus on the tournament in Sao Paulo (Brazil) next up at the end of February; that’s our main goal for the moment.”
In her third season in the Rugby Sevens program, Tonegato is a crucial cog in the Australian engine room at centre or as a menace out on the wing. She came into the sport from a rugby league background, with teammate and fellow Illawarra product Nicole Beck helping entice her across.
With such a big year ahead, Emma is looking forward to excelling both on and off the field – when she can get away from Rugby!
“I’m really trying to lift off from where I was last year,” Emma says. “I think I finished the season playing quite well and I’m determined to keep my speed up and hopefully bring some new elements, such as kicking, to my game.
“I’m also studying occupational therapy part time at the Australian Catholic University in North Sydney. Studying allows me to get away a bit and concentrate on something else,” she explains.
“I do live with (teammates) Alicia Quirk and Emilee Cherry. I really enjoy living with them, we’re all really close friends and we enjoy spending the time together, but we do talk a lot about Rugby and see a lot of each other so my study is something different to focus on and is a great release from Rugby.”
Senior players Chloe Dalton and Sharni Williams are among the Australian women to have picked up injuries recently which will see them miss some tournaments, however Tonegato has faith the replacements from within the squad are more than capable of filling their shoes.
“We’ve got a couple of injuries, notably to Sharni and Chloe, but we do have a large squad and there a lot of girls ready (to step up),” she said. “Taleena Simon, Dominique Du Toit and Shenae Ciesiolka are just three who will all be ready and up to the challenge when they get their chance.”
Ciesiolka, Du Toit and Simon are among seven of Emma’s teammates named in the twelve-player Australian Pearls squad to defend their title at the Coral Coast Rugby Sevens in Fiji this weekend; click here to see the full squad.
Emma’s favourite:
•Holiday destination: Hawaii (but she’s yet to go!)
•Movie: Dodegball
•Rugby player: Israel Folau
•Pre-match meal: Spaghetti Bolognaise
•Song before a game: Zac Brown Band Chicken Fried (listen here)
You can follow Emma on Instagram here.
Australian Women’s Rugby Sevens 2016 Schedule:
•Sao Paulo, Brazil: February 20-21
•Atlanta, USA: April 8-9
•Langford, Canada: April 16-17
•Clermont-Ferrand: May 28-29
•Olympic Games, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: August 6-11
