Wellington Sevens team Australia-bound this weekend

Sevens Rugby | 23 October 2014 | Steven White

Above: Members of the Wellington Sevens team during last weekend’s WRFU Open tournament at Naenae College.

The Wellington men’s Sevens team are expecting to come up against some high quality, fast-paced competition when they arrive at the Central Coast 7s tournament this weekend.

Four pools of four will compete in the 16-team men’s division on day one, with $20,000AUD in prize money up for grabs on day two for the Cup winners.?

Wellington are in a Pool with Redrock, Te Whanau Sportz and Stars Rugby, all specialist Sevens rugby teams from Fiji, Australia and the USA.

Fijian side Redrock have competed in two tournaments in Australia last week, winning the Griffith 7s on Friday and losing the Cup final of the Melbourne 7s tournament to fellow Fijian side Ovalau on Saturday.

Te Whanau is the Sevens arm of a Touch rugby programme run out of Sydney’s Northern Beaches and they are entering men’s and women’s teams in this tournament, as are Stars Rugby who draw their players from rugby clubs and teams from across the USA.?

According to tournament organisers, this event is widely regarded as Australia’s premier rugby sevens festival outside of the world-series. “Featuring explosive end to end action, big collisions, electrifying speed and a display of skills to capture the imagination, The CC7s features some of the strongest domestic and international Sevens players and sevens action in the world in one of the most prestigious tournaments in Australia.”

Other teams entered in the Men’s division of the tournament are Daveta, Tribe 7s, Yamacia, Brazil, Rangataua, Borneo Eagles, College Rifles, Manly, Sunnybank, Tiger Rugby, Warringah and Nabua.?

Rangataua (Bay of Plenty), College Rifles (Auckland), Manly and Warringah (Sydney) and Sunnybank (Brisbane) are all New Zealand and Australian club sides, while the others are also international teams, including the Brazilian national team and Fiji’s Daveta who beat the Auckland Blues 26-17 at the semi-final stage of the World Club 7s tournament in Ireland in August and went on to beat the Vancouver Bears 36-12 to take the title.

Wellington Sevens Head Coach Scott Waldrom said they can’t wait to face these international players and teams as they look to continue on from their championship win at the National Sevens earlier this year.

“After our success in Rotorua we wanted to keep the growth of our Sevens programme here in Wellington going, and the timing of this tournament is ideal.

?

“We know the quality of opposition will be pretty damn high, so for us it’s going to be a great learning opportunity for our guys to grab heading into the regionals and nationals.”

A number of new faces will head to Kanwal, New South Wales, with six of last year’s team unavailable for the upcoming season.

Former All Blacks Sevens player Belgium Tuatagaloa will be a key member of the squad, along with Ambrose Curtis, while Waldrom also expected Upper Hutt Rams’ talent Murphy Taramai to be a promising addition.

“I’d like to think we’ll be very competitive over there, but there are some pretty good teams lining up. It sounds like the quality of Sevens has taken another step up this year.”

11.25 am (1.25 pm NZT) v Redrock

2.25 pm (4.25 pm NZT) v Te Whanau

5.00 pm (7.00 pm NZT) v Stars Rugby

Isaac O’Connor?

Hayden Schrijvers?

Greg Foe?

Sheridan Rangihuna?

Ryan Setefano?

Tomasi Alosio?

Ambrose Curtis?

Matt Peni?

Tamati Samuels?

Belgium Tuatagaloa?

Taniela Manu?

Murphy Taramai

Coaches: Scott Waldrom and Sam Rasch

Manager: Dean Simpson