Invitational, provincial, local & school sevens tournaments

[Stargazer]

From the link below:

The All Blacks Sevens have added Hawke’s Bay winger Ollie Sapsford and 18-year-old Kitiona Vai, the younger brother of former Blues outside back Melani Nanai, to their roster.

I think he got a few "Vai's" and "Nanai's" confused.

https://www.chiefs.co.nz/news-item/etene-nanai-seturo-named-in-all-blacks-sevens-olympic-squad

Edit: ENS is related to Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Melani Nanai and Tim Nanai-Williams though. I just don't know exactly how.

[Nepia]

@stargazer said in Invitational, provincial, local & school sevens tournaments:

From the link below:

The All Blacks Sevens have added Hawke’s Bay winger Ollie Sapsford and 18-year-old Kitiona Vai, the younger brother of former Blues outside back Melani Nanai, to their roster.

I think he got a few "Vai's" and "Nanai's" confused.

https://www.chiefs.co.nz/news-item/etene-nanai-seturo-named-in-all-blacks-sevens-olympic-squad

Edit: ENS is related to Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Melani Nanai and Tim Nanai-Williams though. I just don't know exactly how.

It's funny reading Melani Nanai's bios for his teams (Blues, Worcester) as they make it appear as if he came to NZ for high school but in the Samoa Observer he states that he moved to NZ when he was 6 and then went to American Samoa as a teen for a couple a years when his Dad was studying there before moving back to NZ.

[ARHS]

Liked the look of Kitiona Vai in first game. Sapsford went OK too. Mixed bag from Rush. But the experienced guys ooze class. MGB and Ware were a class above.

[KiwiMurph]

Aus women's 7s team is a different kettle of fish in Olympic years.

[antipodean]

Two good come from behind wins in the 7s at Eden Park.

[Daffy Jaffy]

FYI - the 4 NZ and Oz sevens teams play each other twice again tomorrow at Grammer Tech Rugby club. First games from 11am then second games at 3:30pm. All live on sky 51.

[Stargazer]

Wow, Portia Woodman still got plenty of pace!!

[Stargazer]

And again!

[Stargazer]

And again!

[ARHS]

Hotham looks promising. Woodman all class. Thought Warbrick and ENS are the big improvers in the men. Starting seven looked very good. MGB and Timmy are just so clever at exploiting opportunities.

[Nepia]

To the Aussie Ferners - I just realised these games are on Stan if you want to check them out.

[Stargazer]

The teams will play the last game as if it's a final, so the strongest teams.

[Stargazer]

The Aussies much better than the BF7s in this first half.

[Stargazer]

Too many missed tackles.

[Stargazer]

That's better. Try to Tui.

Maybe it's just me, but Blyde looked hesitant several times, like she wasn't 100% backing herself to win a sprint.

[Machpants]

Portia woodman is so good

[Machpants]

14 all at half time because of two stupid errors from ABs a drop cold and a loose as fuck offload. Very poor by NZ

[Machpants]

Finished strong tho 31-14

[Stargazer]

Both NZ squads clearly still have some work-ons for the Olympics, but for teams that haven't played international games for so long, I thought the quality was good, this weekend.

They mentioned an Oceania Sevens Tournament in Australia in June, so hopefully the Fijians can join them as well. That will be a good prep, and also necessary, because there have been several tournaments in Europe (with participation from non-European teams) that Oceania teams have not participated in and those other teams still have an advantage (in terms of preparation).

There's some good talent in NZ, so both coaching teams will have a tough job selecting the best team for Tokyo. It's a good problem to have.

[ARHS]

Warbrick was the big improver along with Nicole. Koroi v good in last match too. So plenty of depth in squad and competition for places.