New Zealand-born SVNS veteran re-commits to Australia Sevens

Australia Sevens have re-signed one of the more experienced and resilient players in the program, with New Zealand-born Josh Turner returning for the 2025/26 HSBC SVNS Series season.

Turner was selected as a travelling reserve for the Paris Olympics in 2024, but the SVNS veteran wasn’t initially renewed on a deal for the start of the new season that December.

When Nathan Lawson left rugby sevens about 11 months ago to pursue an opportunity in the NRL with St George Illawarra Dragons, the door that allowed Turner to return opened up.

 

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It didn’t take Turner long to re-establish himself as a key member within the Australian Men’s Sevens squad, making the 30-year-old’s re-signing such a significant announcement.

Turner debuted on what’s now known as the SVNS Series in 2018, has gone to two Olympic Games after competing in Tokyo, and is now set for an eighth season in Aussie gold.

Australia Sevens have unveiled other major player news in recent weeks, announcing the men and women who have either re-signed or joined the program for the first time.

Harry Wilson, Gage Phillips, Beau Morrison, Cooper Watters, Wallace Charlie and Bailey Roberts-Lintmeijer have all penned deals with Australia Sevens ahead of the season opener next month.

It was also revealed last week that Jayden Blake and James McGregor have re-signed, while a trio of young stars and two Paris Olympics have re-committed to the women’s team.

“Playing sevens, you’re constantly running 10 [kilometres] a day, getting flogged but I guess we love it, we’re a bit sick in the head,” James Turner told RugbyPass and Rugby.com.au after being named Australia Men’s Sevens Player of the Year at the Rugby Australia Awards.

“I love it, I love the boys and I’ll happily run 10 [kilometres] with them every day.

“I think we’re in a really good spot compared to last year. We’ve got a really good, gelled group, really good core group that’s carried on from last year. I think we’re on to bigger and better things.

“We’re sort of a bit of a roller-coaster last year because we had a bit of inexperience, but coming into this year, I think the boys are flying. This is my fourth year and it’s getting pretty hard and training because all the boys are quite good.”

The SVNS Series kicks off one month today, with Dubai’s The Sevens Stadium hosting the opener on November 29-30. Cape Town’s DHL Stadium is the second stop the following weekend.

Singapore, Australia, Vancouver and the USA are other regular-season destinations, before the new-look three-leg World Champions gets underway in Hong Kong China.

Valladolid in Spain is the second event during the World Championships series, before the finale in Bordeaux, France, on June 5-7.

But before that, both Australian teams are deep into pre-season, preparing to take on some of the world’s best teams at the Ignite7 tournament in Tauranga this weekend.

Both teams will take on New Zealand and Fiji twice each, but the women will also face Japan, who are looking to build on a strong fifth-placed finish on the SVNS Series in 2024/25.