Brady Rush is following in his father Eric Rush's footsteps after making it into the New Zealand Sevens team.
Photo / Tania Whyte
Brady Rush is following in his father Eric Rush's footsteps after making it into the New Zealand Sevens team.
Photo / Tania Whyte
Brady Rush would rather be training and playing rugby than stacking the shelves at New World in Regent under the watchful eyes of dad and supermarket owner Eric.
The 22-year-old had been playing NPC for Northland when he was offered a contract with the New Zealand Sevens team last yearafter a stellar display in the 2020 Red Bull Ignite7.
He's following in the footsteps of his father, New Zealand sevens legend Eric Rush— a two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist who also helped his country win the 2001 Rugby World Cup sevens.
Rugby is in the family blood and it's no surprise that Brady has made it into the national sevens side. He is keen to emulate his dad's achievements by winning Commonwealth gold in England in July and the Sevens World Cup to be played in South Africa in September.
Since dad hung up his boots in 2004 — five years after Brady was born — he has no childhood memories of the former playing. But it didn't matter as his rugby trajectory is on the right path.
"It's been a dream come true in the black jersey. I's been pretty surreal. I am contracted to Northland at the moment but the goal is to just focus on sevens.
"There are a couple of pinnacle events this year, the Commonwealth Games and the sevens Rugby World Cup. The goal is to get into the team first. I want to stay in the black jersey as long as I can.
"The intensity of the sevens series is good. I can't just come home for a holiday...gotta always train because of this fella," pointing at Eric.
"Either that or stack shelves here," Eric retorted.
Brady Rush reacts after team mate Akuila Rokosolia scores the match winning try against Ireland in the Singapore Sevens semi final.
Photo / Gettys
A tournament victory in the black jersey has so far eluded Brady, who played in the Singapore sevens two weeks ago when his team lost to Fiji in the final while New Zealand were beaten by Australia in the Vancouver sevens quarter-final last weekend.
Growing up, former All Blacks Anthony Tuitavake and Rene Ranger and his twin older brothers Martin and Blair were his idols.
Eric reckons his twin boys, who are now living in Australia, escaped "relatively unscathed" from the hard grind of rugby training and playing as he was still playing back then.
When he retired, Brady and Rob were ready so they got all his energy.
All his boys started playing rugby at East Tamaki in South Auckland where they lived and Eric coached their teams right through the grades.
Brady's New Zealand sevens teammate Sione Molia, Blues centre Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, former Blues winger Melani Nanai, and current All Black Tupou Vaa'i all played for East Tamaki in Otara.
Being knocked around by the islanders has moulded his boys into good rugby players, Eric said.
He looked back at the amateur, semi-professional and now professional era and how the sevens rugby landscape has changed since he was in his prime.
The World Sevens Series was a lot harder now and teams like Argentina, Kenya, Japan, Canada, the US and Samoa have improved immensely. In his playing days there was only the Hong Kong sevens and Fiji and New Zealand almost always locked horns in the final.
Like father, like son. Eric and Brady Rush have both tasted sevens rugby on the international stage.
Photo / Tania Whyte
Not a lot has changed except the athletes nowadays are bigger, faster and stronger because they train daily.
"My sevens season was, we went to the nationals, they picked the team after the final, assembled on a Tuesday and went to Hong Kong on the Wednesday. Played one tournament in Hong Kong, another one in Sydney, and then the season was over. Back to 15s.
"But after that, sevens grew and I ended up playing 50 or 60 tournaments for New Zealand. We were lucky because you could do both. I feel a bit sorry for these fellas because you're either 15s or sevens now and you don't get the enjoyment factor of both the codes.
"We trained Tuesday and Thursday- that was it. Gym was for the fella playing on the wing.
"We didn't know what a gym was. I would run on my off days but I wouldn't do it every day until I got into the New Zealand scene," Eric said.
He watched the Singapore Sevens live and said the fact that it was difficult to predict the results was good for the sport globally.
"Back then, you might get to the quarters and you knew you were gonna win that. The semis and the final are always hard. But now, you've gotta play well to get out of your pool."
Fiji were and still are the hardest team to beat, he reckons.
"They just know the game, it suits the players that they have. They've got the genetics, they're fast, they're fit, they're tough, and they've got a rugby brain on them."
Eric's other son Rob plays for Northland while twin boys Martin and Blair live in Australia and also play rugby.
