'I've never seen an athlete with those genetics': Schoolboy sprint star impresses New Zealand Rugby officials at national sevens trial
Schoolboy sprint star Edward Osei-Nketia has blown away New Zealand Rugby bosses in his first venture into rugby sevens at the Red Bull Ignite 7 camp in Auckland.
The 18-year-old – who claimed the New Zealand, Australia and Oceania 100m titles this year and came within 0.01 seconds of qualifying for a semi-final berth at the World Athletics Championships in Qatar in September – is one of 96 athletes attending the talent identification programme this week.
Joining Osei-Nketia at the event are members of the New Zealand Schools rugby side, nationally-ranked surf life savers, representative netballers, New Zealand age grade water polo stars and internationally decorated rowers as NZR attempts to uncover young rugby and non-rugby playing athletes with potential in sevens.
The Season: Hamilton Boys High School – Episode 2
Six of those athletes will be handed a place in the All Blacks Sevens and Black Ferns Sevens development squads ahead of their upcoming seasons.
Osei-Nektia’s involvement has been limited to a non-playing capacity as he preserves his body in a bid to qualify for next year’s Tokyo Olympics as a track and field sprinter, but glimpses of his immense athleticism has been on show at The Trusts Arena.
In fact, the man who became the fourth-fastest New Zealander in history en route to claiming the Australian 100m title in Sydney seven months ago with a time of 10.19 seconds has left NZR officials in awe of his physical prowess.
“I’ve never seen an athlete with those genetics, ever,” New Zealand Rugby’s high performance sevens talent ID manager PJ Williams told Stuff.
“He is 99 per cent fast twitch muscle fibre. I’ve never seen an athlete [like Osei-Nketia] walk through our doors in rugby, ever. And we probably never will see one again.”
When asked about Osei-Nketia’s rugby-playing potential, Williams said: “How long is a piece of string? He has got speed, he has got size, he has got an attitude that is focussed for high performance.”
The 1.90m, 95kg teenager, who is the son of the Ghanian-born New Zealand 100m record-holder Gus Nketia, has history as a rugby player, having played the sport during his time in Australia at St Edmunds College.
He told Stuff earlier this year that he averaged “three to four” tries per match while at the Canberra school, and was supposed to play for the Scots College 1st XV in Wellington this year before his athletics career took off.
“I was always stuck on the wing. But I could see myself as a fullback, centre and if I can pull my head straight, I could be a flyhalf too. I’d need to improve on my kicking game though,” Osei-Nketia said while at the Red Bull Ignite 7 event.
Former Australian rugby league winger Semi Radradra is reportedly willing to take a multi-million dollar pay cut to return to the @NRL from rugby union.https://t.co/LvH7qV1zdH
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 22, 2019
While he won’t be exposed to any physical contact, the camp has provided Osei-Nketia with an opportunity to showcase running ability as well as a chance to work on his ball skills.
“I’m here trying to learn more as I go as a sprinter, learn the game, learn the people and learn as many different things about rugby as possible so that one day, if possible, we can make a switch and I can be on top of the game.
“We don’t know what is going to happen, we have to keep our options open.”
Although a place at the 2020 Olympics is a realistic prospect, it’s unknown how long Osei-Nketia’s sprinting career will last, especially given how seriously he is taking a potential career in rugby.
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NZR high performance sevens development manager Chad Tuoro told Stuff last month that the youngster would need to make the jump to rugby no later than 2021 if he is to succeed at an elite level in the sport, but sources close to RugbyPass have indicated that a cross-code switch is still a very real possibility.
That doesn’t mean that Osei-Nketia has ruled out the idea of representing New Zealand at both sevens and athletics at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
“We’ll take it one at a time at the moment but I would love to do both.”
The Red Bull Ignite 7 programme will wrap up with a day-long tournament on Sunday, where the six development players will be announced.
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Comments on RugbyPass
The rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
76 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
1 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
9 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
12 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
9 Go to commentsIts a great idea but one that I dont think will have a lot of traction. It will depend on the prestige that they each hold but if you can do that it would be great. When Japan beat the Boks (my team) I was absolutely devestated but I wont deny the great game they played that day. We were outclassed and it was one of the best games of rugby I have seen. Using an idea like this you might just give the the underdog teams more of an opportunity to beat the big teams and I can absolutely see it being a brilliant display of rugby. They beat us because they planned for that game. It was a great moment for Japan. This way we can remove the 4 year wait and give teams something to aim for outside of World Cup years.
9 Go to commentsHi, Dave here. Happy to answer questions 🥰
9 Go to commentsDon’t think that headline is accurate. It’s great to see Aus doing better but I’m not sure they’ve shown much threat to the top of the table. They shouldn’t be inflating wins against the lousy Highlanders and Crusaders either.
3 Go to commentsSuch a shame Roigard and Aumua picked up long term injuries, probably the two form players in the comp. Also, pretty sure Clarke Dermody isn’t their coach. Got it half right though.
3 Go to commentsOh the Aussie media, they never learn. At least Andrew Kellaway is like “Woah, yeah it’s great, but settle down there guys” having endured years of the Aussie media, fans, and often their players getting ahead of themselves only to fall flat on their faces. Have the “We'll win the Bledisloe for sure this year!” headlines started yet? It’s simple to see what’s going on. The Aussie teams are settled, they didn't lose any of their major players overseas. The Crusaders and Chiefs lost key experienced All Blacks, and Razor in the Crusaders case, and clearly neither are anywhere near as strong as last year (The Canes and Blues would probably be 3rd & 4th if they were). The Highlanders are annually average, even more so post-Aaron Smith and a big squad clean out. The two teams at the top? The two nz sides with largely the same settled roster as last year, except Ardie Savea for the Canes. They’ve both got far better coaches now too. If the Aussies are going to win the title, this is the year the kiwi sides will be weakest, so they better take their chance.
3 Go to commentsThe World Cup has to be the gold standard, line in the sand. 113 teams compete for what is the opportunity to make the pool stages, and then the knockout games for the trophy. The concept is sound. This must have been the rationale when the World Cup was created, surely? But I’m all for Looking forward and finding new ways for the SH to dominate the NH into the future. The autumn series needs a change up. Let’s start by having the NH teams come south every odd year for the Autumn/Spring series games?
9 Go to commentsWhat’ll happen when the AI models of the future go back in time and try to destroy the AI models of the past standing in their way of certain victory?
41 Go to commentsThanks, Nick. We (Seanny Maloney, Brett and I) just discussed Charlie as a potential Wallaby No 8, and wondered if he has truly realised how big he is in contact (and whether he can add 5 kg w/o slowing down). Your scouting report confirms our suspicions he has the materiel. No one knows if he has the mentality (as Johann van Graan said this week about CJ, Duane and Alfie B) to carry 10-15 times a game.
57 Go to commentsHe would be a great player for the Stormers, Dobbo should approach the guy.
3 Go to commentsGood article. A few years back when he was playing for the Cheetahs, he was a quiet standout for exactly the seasons stated here. I occasionally get to see his games in the UK, and he has become a more complete player and in many ways like an Irish player. His work ethic is so suitable to the Leinster game. I wonder if Rassie would have him listed somewhere.
3 Go to commentsResults probably skewed by the fact that a few clubs have foreign fly halves in their 30s, but most teams have young English scrum halves. Results also likely to be skewed by the fact that many teams rely on centres and fullbacks to provide depth at 10, whereas they will need to stock a large number of specialist backup 9s.
2 Go to commentsI really get the sense that when all is said and done, the path of least resistance will end up being a merger of Wasps & Worcester that essentially kills the Worcester Warriors brand and sees Wasps permanently playing at Sixways. I’m not saying that’s what should happen or what I want to happen. I just think it’s the easiest rout to take and therefore, will be what happens. Wasps will definitely return to play first, and I suppose it all depends on if they can find support at Sixways. If people turn up and support Wasps in that community, at that ground, I bet they drop the Sevenoaks plan and just remain at Sixways. Under the radar but not totally unrelated, it looks as though London Irish are going to be brought back from the dead by a German consortium and look set to return, likely to the remade Championship. It’s set to have 12 clubs next season with 14 in 2025/26, what do you want to bet those extra 2 are Wasps and London Irish?
3 Go to commentsThe shoulder is a “joint” with multiple bones. You don’t “fracture” a shoulder, you fracture any one or more of the bones that make up a shoulder.
2 Go to commentsOh dear, bones too suspect to continue?
2 Go to comments