First All Black Sevens and Black Ferns Sevens squads named for season

The All Blacks Sevens and Black Ferns Sevens teams play their opening tournaments of the 2017-18 season at the Oceania Sevens Championship in Fiji next weekend and have both selected their squads to open their campaigns.

All Blacks Sevens
Scott Curry (Bay of Plenty)
Tim Mikkelson (Waikato)
Tone Ng Shiu (Tasman)
Teddy Stanaway (Bay of Plenty)
Dylan Collier (Waikato)
Bailey Simonsson (Bay of Plenty)
Joe Ravouvou (Auckland)
Isaac Te Tamaki (Waikato)
Regan Ware (Bay of Plenty)
Andrew Knewstubb (Tasman)
Joe Webber (Bay of Plenty)
Sione Molia (Counties Manukau)

An experienced All Blacks Sevens team has been named with Bay of Plenty youngster Bailey Simonsson the only debutant.

“Bailey is a young kid who has come across from league and we are really impressed with him. He has a massive work ethic and its encouraging to see how he’s come along,” said All Blacks Sevens coach Clark Laidlaw.

Joe Webber and Joe Ravouvou join the team fresh from NPC commitments while the remainder of the squad has been assembled in Mt Maunganui for the past month.

“This is true pre-season for us, we’re a new team and new coaches and we will be coming up against some settled opposition.

“All the players will get game time and we will get to see our strengths and weaknesses. We’re interested to see where we are at against some good teams,” said Laidlaw.

The All Blacks Sevens play Nauru and Cook Islands in pool play.

Black Ferns Sevens
Portia Woodman (Counties Manukau)
Tenika Willison (Waikato)
Stacey Waaka (Waikato)
Ruby Tui (Canterbury)
Terina Te Tamaki (Waikato)
Alena Saili (Otago)
Tyla Nathan-Wong (Auckland)
Kayla McAlister (Auckland)
Sarah Goss (Manawatu)
Theresa Fitzpatrick (Auckland)
Gayle Broughton (Taranaki)
Michaeala Blyde (Bay of Plenty)

The Black Ferns Sevens will be looking to continue the success of their 2016/17 campaign and coach Allan Bunting has named a strong, experienced team for the Oceania Sevens Championship.

“It was a tough team to select, that’s for sure.

“We see this as the start of our preparation for Commonwealth Games so we have picked the strongest team possible; we want to create continuity in our campaign.

“This tournament will be a good to grow combinations and see how our game plan is working,” said Bunting.

The Black Ferns Sevens play Papua New Guinea, Cook Islands and Tahiti in pool play.
The Oceania Sevens Championships is played on 10-11 November in Suva, Fiji.