Tim Atkinson (Australia)
What they said then: Perhaps a little late in making his mark on the sevens stage but the 24-year-old has shown incredible form this year.vThe ACT Brumbies centre has been Australia’s key man in opening up opposition defences. He regularly crosses the try line, is agile and skilful and basically has all the attributes of the sevens format. He is known as “weasel” by his team-mates.
What happened next? He captained Australia in Rugby 7s including an appearance at the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games, where he was the leading try scorer for the tournament. Tim won four IRB 7s tournaments with Australia including Wellington, Shanghai, Malaysia and Brisbane. Never really made the same impact in 15-man rugby.