1
'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.
ADVERTISEMENT
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.
ADVERTISEMENT
“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.
ADVERTISEMENT
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.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B47IpoFAxEH/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
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.
In other news:
Comments on RugbyPass
Hats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
1 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
1 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
2 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
23 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
2 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
21 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
1 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
2 Go to commentsWhy not let the media decide. Like how they choose the head coach. Like most of us we entrust the rugby system to choose. A rugby team includes the coaches. It's collective.
13 Go to commentsHi NIck, I have been very impressed with him and he seems a smart player who can see opportunities which Bobby V _(who must be an international 6_) doesn’t see or have the speed to take advantage of. If he continues to improve and puts on 5kgs then he could be a great 8. He is a bit taller than Keiran Reid at 1.93m and 111 kgs, so his skill set fits his body size and who knows where it will lead. I hope the spate of Achilles tendon issues have been dealt with by the S&C people. It’s been a very long time since Mark Loane and Kefu stood out at 8. The question is will we be able to hold onto him, if he does make it he will be pretty hot property. I disagree with the idea of letting them go to the Northern Hemisphere and then bring them back.
21 Go to commentsBilly Fulton 🤣🤣🤣🤣 garrrmon not even close
13 Go to commentsDoes the AI take into account refs? hahaha Seriously why not have two on field refs to avoid bias?
23 Go to commentsVern challenging this Blues side might be the edge they need to fulfill their potential. Convincing results from strong D and strong carries are hard to argue against.
1 Go to commentsLove seems to add a strong back field defense with speed to close the gap and tackle to his ability to attack, kick and pass (an accurate long pass). This sets him an edge over some of the other names - JRK in particular. Has to be said that Jordan and Stevenson have also been exposed defensively while Love has yet to face test match intensity. Spoilt for choice.
1 Go to commentsHe’s strung together a few strong seasons, I’d like to see him in the ABs and build some depth along with Reiko and ALB. Levi Aumua hasn’t taken the step we hoped to see but time yet.
2 Go to commentsWhere has our good friend Pecos gone!? Similar place to the Crusaders D, the abyss.
4 Go to commentsNice piece Nick. I haven’t seen much of the brumbies this year so will keep my powder dry on charlie, but clearly has the speed and footwork to be damaging in space. Similar to Samu, I’d worry about the size of our pack if the likes of Mcreight and Cale were in the b/row together. Maybe Cale could play a similar finisher role like Samu did for Rennie’s wallabies. Has Cale leapfrogged wilson in your eyes? He obviously has the lineout, but harry probably better (although not great) in the physical stuff and also has great hands in the loose. You’d have to say mcreight and valetini are shoe-ins at 7/8, so the question becomes who matches best with them at 6 and on the bench. I don’t know if he has a high enough ceiling, but id love to see wright given a shot based on how much bad luck he has had with injuries. He may also fit that no-nonsense graft/work rate irish approach…? If schmidt wants size and a 4/6 tweener then I’d probably pick Uru. On the bench I’d have no idea, Wilson if you want to give valetini a rest, and maybe hanigan/wright/uru as 6 replacements.
21 Go to comments