New Zealand ramp up 7s activity

Teams from Wellington, Manawatu, Wairarapa Bush, Taranaki and Hawke's Bay competed at the weekend in the one-day Central Region tournament held at Palmerston North's Massey University.

Fresh from their Oceania Women's Sevens Championship win in Fiji last week, current national team members Shakira Baker (Wairarapa Bush) and vice captain Sarah Goss (Manawatu) all played in the tournament in Palmerston North.

Next Sunday, teams from Northland, North Harbour, Auckland, Counties Manukau, Waikato and Bay of Plenty battle it out in the Northern Region tournament at Auckland's College Rifles Club.

Fiji tournament winners Charlene Halapua, Linda Itunu, Sevens captain Huriana Manuel, Kayla McAlister, Tyla Nathan-Wong, Hazel Tubic and Portia Woodman, all from Auckland, are expected to compete in this weekend's tournament.

The regional hit-outs round out on Saturday 25 August with Canterbury hosting the Southern Region tournament at North Hagley Park.

Kendra Cocksedge and Ruby Tui, both of Canterbury, and Tasman's Moana Forbes are expected to benefit from that tournament.

New Zealand Women's Sevens Coach Sean Horan will attend all three tournaments as he eyes up potential talent for the national side. The tournaments are an important part of developing women's sevens.

"We were very excited with the response to our Go4Gold recruitment programme. While we have one eye on looking ahead to the 2016 Olympic Games goal, these tournaments provide invaluable game time now for the many women who are really enjoying the game," he said.

"Fiji provided us with an amazing opportunity to mix great Black Ferns experience, with raw athletic talent, and we weren't disappointed.

"For those who ran out in Fiji, they really thrived on the opportunity to wear the black jersey and demonstrated some classy sevens rugby.

"The focus with these regional tournaments is to ensure we keep growing our base of talented players, and ensure we keep developing good, strong sevens players," Horan said.

"We want to keep the players competitive and motivated to earn a place in the teams we look to take to other international women's sevens tournament."

The Go4Gold programme is geared towards finding a gold-medal winning women's sevens team for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.