Cody Vai sets All Blacks goal after SVNS education

Ahead of his Super Rugby Pacific debut for the Blues former All Blacks Sevens flyer Cody Vai has set high ambitions.

Named on the bench for the Chiefs’ visit to Eden Park on Saturday, the 21-year-old is ready to take the next step in his career after three years on the HSBC SVNS Series circuit.

It has always been clear that the Auckland native was bold. His rapid ascent to the All Blacks Sevens squad as an 18-year-old was a sure sign of that. As was his try on debut, just seconds into his team’s 2023 title charge in Hong Kong.

Now, as he ventures into the 15-a-side game full-time for the first time in his senior career, one objective fills his mind.

“The end goal is to be in that All Blacks jersey,” Vai told RNZ.

The vision of Vai in a black jersey is not too difficult to imagine. It is a shirt he inhabited for three years on the HSBC SVNS Series, in which time he helped the team to a Series title in his debut season.

“I can’t really put it into words just how amazing it was,” Vai said. “I watched those guys as a kid and to get to play with the likes of Joe Webber, Regan Ware, Scott Curry, Tim Mikkelson, it was pretty unreal. Tim debuted in 2007 or something like that, and I was only three years old, which is pretty funny.”

There is a family tie to the Blues. Because so much as his father, Kitiona Nanai Vai, was a Samoa international, his older brother Melani Nanai called Eden Park home for five Super Rugby seasons.

All of a sudden some of the players he grew up idolising, or that came around to his family home to throw around a rugby ball, are teammates.

“My older brother came through here as well,” Vai said. “So it’s always been a dream of mine to be here and I watched some of these guys as well. And then getting the chance to put the jersey with them is obviously going to be special as well.

“I always grew up watching them and they used to come over to the house and play a bit of games as well. So yeah, it was pretty cool that now that I’m getting to play with them, it’s a crazy full circle moment.”

After he helped New Zealand to a sixth-place finish on the HSBC SVNS Series last term, Vai prepared for the transition to the 15-a-side game with Auckland.

The side endured a dismal NPC Bunnings season, with the 21-year-old making five appearances and scoring two tries against Canterbury in a close loss in Christchurch.

In the four matches he started Vai was named as a wing. But ahead of his Blues debut, he has stated his intention to claim the outside centre jersey with Rieko Ioane away on a sabbatical in the northern hemisphere with Leinster.

“My end goal is probably around centre this year, but right now, I’m still learning the game,” he said.

“Rieko was probably one of the players that I loved watching most, Beauden Barrett as well, so it’s actually an unreal experience coming in and just they’re really down to earth people and just so easy to talk to as well.”