New All Blacks Sevens coach reveals stance on XVs stars chasing Olympics

The All Blacks Sevens have a new head coach. Willie Rickards played in eight tournaments for the All Blacks Sevens from 2006 to 2009. He succeeds Tomasi Cama, who was involved with the 14-time SVNS Series champions for two decades and 150 tournaments as a player and coach.

Rickards represented Southland (28 games), Taranaki (19 games) and the Highlanders (2 games) as a player before moving into coaching.

He led the Taranaki Sevens programme to a National Championship in 2013 and was NPC Skills Coach during the 2014 NPC Premiership-winning campaign. He then progressed to Assistant Coach and Head Coach (2018-2020). His tenure included a notable Ranfurly Shield win over Canterbury, 55-43 in Christchurch in 2017. However, the overall record as head coach was a modest 12 wins in 33 matches.

At national level, Rickards was an Assistant Coach for New Zealand Schools and New Zealand Under 20s (2016-2018), helping guide the latter to their last World Rugby Under 20 Championship in Georgia in 2017 while the former won all eight matches.

Rickards has been All Blacks Sevens assistant coach for two years. What changes will he make running the overall program, which has seen low series finishes of seventh and fourth? New Zealand was second in the three “Grand Final” tournaments in 2025/26.

“One of my strengths is to bring good people into programs and identify strengths in other people,” Rickards told RugbyPass.

“If you get good people involved, good things will happen. We have wonderful staff and players. I’m excited by this opportunity.

“One of the strengths Tomasi Cama has is his great ability to be ahead of the game. He could see things before they happened. His tactical awareness has been a big growth area for me. The game has changed technically and tactically, so that’s a continued area to address, but in terms of leading programs and people, not much will change.”

Rickards will be joined by Scott Curry and Liam Messam. Curry played 321 games for the All Blacks Sevens, is a four-time New Zealand Rugby Sevens Player of the Year, won six World Series titles, and medalled at the Olympic and Commonwealth Games.

Double Rugby World Cup winner Messam won gold medals in Sevens at the 2006 and 2010 Commonwealth Games. He is an Athlete Development Coach at the Chiefs and a part-time boxer.

That pedigree is undeniable. Is there a danger of hanging the hat in the past? In Rickards’ playing days and early coaching roles, lifting players at kickoffs was unheard of. The contest to win possession at the restart may now be the most important factor in deciding games. New Zealand has been below par in this area. Other changes to the game need more consideration.

“One area where the game has developed is in the performance analyst space. We have a staff member now who looks at footage, collects data and makes sense of that to inform the coaching,”  Rickards said.

“The game is more complex than getting the ball to the fastest player on the wing. We’ve been asking how data collection can shape the way we train and play while also retaining our ability to play what’s in front of us.”

Opportunities to rehearse such an approach are limited if you’re not in the All Blacks Sevens central hub of Mount Maunganui. There’s no SVNS or National Sevens tournaments anymore and seemingly limited pathways.

“Post covid sport has had to strategise about how to do things differently in an environment that has changed financially,”  Rickards said.

“How we grow our domestic game is a focus for me. I’m excited by some of the personnel changes at New Zealand Rugby. Michael Collins, now head of rugby, was the academy manager at Taranaki Rugby when I was there. He was the architect of the Sevens program Clark Laidlaw and I came through. Conrad Smith’s background in the All Blacks is immense. Don Tricker has a formidable high-performance background. Engaging with these people about how to grow our domestic, school, club, and Sevens pathways so they’re all aligned is exciting.”

The Global Youth Sevens at Dilworth College, featuring up to 40 teams in various high-performance, club, and international forms, has become a valuable recruitment tool. The one-off tournament in December includes All Blacks Sevens reps Caleb Tangitau and Kele Lasaqa as success stories. A second tournament has been added to the series on the Sunshine Coast.

Meanwhile, Clark Laidlaw led the All Blacks Sevens to 275 wins from 354 matches across 61 tournaments, securing 15 Cup titles and two SVNS league crowns. In 2026, he guided the Hurricanes to their second Super Rugby title, winning 14 of 17 games and smashing Super Rugby records for most points and tries in a season. Rickards and Laidlaw are in close contact.

The Olympic Games are in Los Angeles in 2028. New Zealand hasn’t yet won an Olympic gold medal; Laidlaw’s 2021 team won silver in Tokyo. Asked which two players Rickards could have for the Olympics, he chose All Blacks Leroy Carter and Fehi Fineanganofo, who came through the All Blacks Sevens programs.

Balancing established Sevens players with superstar ring-ins is not something New Zealand has successfully managed. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Sonny Bill Williams was a flop. In 2021 and 2024, the selection rewarded those who had been regular on the World Series circuit, but New Zealand perhaps lacked the “X-factor” of their opposition. The World Rugby Men’s Sevens Player of the Year in 2024 was Antoine Dupont. The superstar halfback scored two tries in the 28-7 Olympic final win over Fiji.

“I’d love to be in a position where some big names in fifteens would consider playing in the Olympics,” Rickards said.

“The way you manage that would have to be a conversation. The French were clever with Dupont. They integrated him into their team slowly, managing his minutes, building up his fitness and skillset rather than just throwing him in there and expecting miracles. “

The 2026–27 SVNS kicks off in Dubai on November 28. The Global Youth Sevens on the Sunshine Coast will be held from December 12-13, with the Auckland event from December 18-20.