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Black Ferns Sevens forced into change after young star sidelined

EXETER, ENGLAND - AUGUST 31: New Zealand's Braxton Sorensen-McGee celebrates scoring with New Zealand's Jorja Miller during the Women's Rugby World Cup 2025 Pool C match between New Zealand and Japan at Sandy Park on August 31, 2025 in Exeter, England. (Photo by Bob Bradford - CameraSport via Getty Images)
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The Black Ferns Sevens will be without one of their stars for the next two HSBC SVNS Series World Championship events in Valladolid and Bordeaux.

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2025’s World Rugby’s Women’s 15s Breakthrough Player of the Year Braxton Sorensen-McGee will not travel with the Black Ferns Sevens for the upcoming two events, nursing a concussion.

New Zealand Rugby provided an update on Monday morning, announcing Sorensen McGee will remain in the country due to HIA protocols.

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Three-Test Black Ferns back Justine McGregor has been called up, replacing the young star for the Valladolid and Bordeaux events in the next three weeks.

McGregor, who made her international debut at the Dubai Sevens in 2024, joins a stacked Kiwi squad for the two World Championship events, spearheaded by the likes of captain Risi Pouri-Lane and vice captain Jorja Miller.

Cory Sweeney’s side returns to the World Championship stage after taking out the SVNS Series regular season crown, with their fifth Cup Final win in six tournaments before clinching first-place in Hong Kong.

Danii Mafoe and the return of Jaxx Felix Hotham from injury are the major inclusions for Sweeney, for the tournaments in Europe, starting on May 29.

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The Black Ferns Sevens will kickstart their Valladolid title search against Argentina, who recently qualified through SVNS 2.

Sweeney’s side will then take on Brazil and Japan in their final two games of the four-team pool.

Sorensen-McGee recently signed a new deal with the Black Ferns Sevens and New Zealand Rugby through to the end of 2027, saying her goals aligned with NZR’s offer.

“I’ve been loving my first season with the Black Ferns Sevens and the opportunity to play on the world series with my sevens’ sisters. This environment has helped me grow so much as a player and as a person, and I’m excited about what’s still ahead,” McGee said on an NZR statement.

“But I’ve also set some goals in fifteens and feel like I’ve got more to offer in the Blues and Black Ferns jerseys. I’m looking forward to challenging myself in both formats and doing everything I can to contribute to those teams.”

Black Ferns Sevens touring squad for SVNS Valladolid and Bordeaux

Manaia Nuku
Jorja Miller (VC)
Stacey Waaka
Mahina Paul
Risi Pouri-Lane (C)
Maia Davis
Alena Saili
Jazmin Felix-Hotham
Justine McGregor
Danii Mafoe
Jaymie Kolose
Kelsey Teneti
Katelyn Vahaakolo

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KwAussie 44 mins ago

That’s a real shame. Depth is good for NZ and I think they’ll need it with Australia pushing hard. Looking forward to this weekend

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GodOfFriedChicken 1 hour ago
Jamie Joseph pinpoints where Highlanders repeatedly fell short in 2026

I’m not saying to have them rely exclusively on high school talent but teams should be able to retain their top local talent rather than lose them to more regularly successful unions on a regular basis. Look at what’s happened to the Manawatu region, who lost the entire Whitelock family and Codie Taylor to Canterbury before any of them could even play a game there. Imports are part of the game but if it’s a top talent that was either raised in your region or already plays in your region at a position that’s not of surplus, you should have more ability to have their rights. Also on the note of Tupou-Ta’eiloa, he moved to Moana because he wants to play for Tonga i.e. the actual purpose of the team.

The salary cap in SRP is very poorly enforced, especially when you compare it to leagues like the NRL or most of American sport. There’s no salary floor, so a team like the Highlanders is regularly spending much less than their other NZ teams and the whole AB top-up system means that you can essentially pay a bunch of good players much less for their SR salary than they’re worth because the players get enough of an AB top-up that their SR salary doesn’t matter. Given that the ABs have eligibility rules that require them to play SR anyway, it shouldn’t be a massive stretch to slightly increase the salary cap but include AB salaries in there. It’s not being “penalised for doing things right”, it’s keeping teams from hoarding talent and making sure the competition stays fair. Happens in the NRL every time but if their systems are as good as advertised (like Penrith, who’ve had to let go of a star every year to a lesser team since their title runs), then they should be able to rebuild. There’s a reason why the NRL’s had nearly every team (except the Warriors, Dolphins and Titans) win a premiership while SR has become top heavy with a lot of one sided results - one competition lets you hoard talent and essentially lets you pay them with hidden money legally, the other makes sure players are paid what they’re worth for the team.



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