All Blacks Sevens named for HSBC Canada Sevens

Mar 9 • General News, Sevens Rugby • 1543 Views • Comments Off on All Blacks Sevens named for HSBC Canada Sevens

All Blacks Sevens Coach Clark Laidlaw has named the team to play at the HSBC Canada Sevens in Vancouver this weekend.

The team is;

1. Scott Curry – captain

2. Luke Masirewa

3. Trael Joass

4. Joe Ravouvou

5. Dylan Collier

6. Ngarohi McGarvey-Black

7. Sam Dickson

8. Andrew Knewstubb

9. Regan Ware

10. Kurt Baker

11. Joe Webber

12. Etene Nanai-Seturo

13. Sione Molia

There are three changes from the team that finished in fifth place at last weekend’s HSBC USA Sevens, with Luke Masirewa and Kurt Baker replacing the injured Tim Mikkelson and Vilimoni Koroi, while Joe Webber has recovered from illness to join the 12; Sione Molia will be the 13th man.

Laidlaw said the loss of Mikkelson and Koroi is tough, but they are confident in the team selected.

“Tim is a mainstay of the team so playing without him is something no one wants but it gives guys a chance to step up, Dylan and Luke will have to play some big minutes so that’s great for them.

“Losing a star play maker like Vili gives Andrew and Ngarohi a chance to play in that position, so we see it as an exciting opportunity,” said Laidlaw.

The All Blacks Sevens will face Scotland, Russia and South Africa in Pool D and Laidlaw said the team is looking to show an improvement on recent showings.

“It’s been frustrating the last couple of tournaments because we haven’t quite put a full game together. We tried to simplify things this week and create a really clear focus for the team so we are expecting a good performance this weekend.

“We’ve played all these teams recently. We played Russia in Sydney and needed to play well to beat them, Scotland have troubled us and we are clear how we want to play against them. South Africa is the form team and the strongest squad so that’s a great challenge for us.”