Experienced All Blacks Sevens coaching line-up announced

Jul 18 • General News, International • 984 Views • Comments Off on Experienced All Blacks Sevens coaching line-up announced

New All Blacks Sevens Head Coach Clark Laidlaw has announced an experienced coaching line-up for the bumper 2017/2018 season.

Laidlaw’s new coaching line-up will guide the side as they compete for the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series title, push for gold at the Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast next April and the Rugby World Cup Sevens in San Francisco next July.

The new All Blacks Sevens coaching set-up sees Liam Barry appointed to the position of Assistant Coach. Barry is a former All Black and coached with the Blues for a number of years, first as Skills Coach and then as Assistant Coach. He was the Head Coach of North Harbour from 2011 to 2013. He had been the Head Coach at Ricoh in Japan for two years before returning to New Zealand last year.

Former All Blacks Sevens star playmaker Tomasi Cama has been appointed to the new position of Attack Coach following his season as Assistant Coach with the team over the last year.

In making the announcement Clark Laidlaw said it was important to him to build a coaching team that had a mix of sevens skills, long-standing coaching experience, and deep connections to all levels of rugby in New Zealand.

“Liam brings a huge wealth of coaching experience to the team, as well as very important connections to our Super Rugby teams and provincial rugby in New Zealand. It was critical to me that we had someone in our coaching team with a deep knowledge of rugby in this country, at all levels, and could use those connections to the benefit of the All Blacks Sevens. Liam’s background made him a logical addition to our coaching environment.

“Having Tomasi sevens’ brain in the coaching lineup will be a huge asset. He is arguably the best playmaker the All Blacks Sevens have ever produced and we’ll be looking to transfer his knowledge of the game and attacking expertise onto the current crop of players.

“Tomasi also provides continuity to the side, having been the interim Assistant Coach for the past season. His ongoing expert contribution to our game-plan and attack strategy will be invaluable.

New Zealand Rugby Head of High Performance, Don Tricker, paid tribute to last season’s Interim Head Coach Scott Waldrom.

“Scott did an outstanding job under difficult circumstances. He came in weeks before the season got underway and on the back of huge changes in the team with the departure of longstanding Head Coach Sir Gordon Tietjens.

“He brought in and developed some great new players last season and was highly regarded by the team and the leadership at New Zealand Rugby.

“I know that Scott has a big future ahead of him coaching rugby and it will be great to see him develop further over the coming years.”