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Stars return as New Zealand’s squads for SVNS Vancouver and LA named
Andrew Knewstubb’s two-year journey back to the SVNS Series is finally over. After a turbulent stint on the sidelines, which saw the All Blacks Sevens’ Bronco king underdog two ACL operations, the New Zealander is off to Vancouver and Los Angeles.
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Knewstubb, 28, has been included in the All Blacks Sevens’ travelling squad for the upcoming HSBC SVNS Series events in North America along with other returning veterans.
Side-stepping whiz Joe Webber is back in the mix following a decent stint away, and both Amanaki Nicole and Roderick Solo have also been named to return for the first time this season.
While Dylan Collier and Sione Molia are both unavailable, this All Blacks Sevens squad boasts some genuine star power with Olympian Sam Dickson leading the way. World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year nominee Leroy Carter and Scott Curry will serve as vice-captains under Dickson and coach Tomasi Cama.
Che Clark, Tepaea Cook-Savage, Fehi Fineanganofo, Tim Mikkelson, Amanaki Nicole, Akuila Rokolisoa, Brady Rush, Roderick Solo and Cody Vai will also travel.
It’s a quality squad on paper but the New Zealanders will be eager to live up to their reputation and status as defending series champions after a slow start to the 2023/24 season.
“It’s probably the amount of rugby that we’ve played,” Sam Dickson told RugbyPass in Perth late last month.
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“We had a real disjointed off-season with more than half of our squad playing NPC and we didn’t really have a proper pre-season. We trying to play a little bit of catchup in that case.
“Credit to the other teams, they’re playing outstanding this year and you could see the whole level has raised so much. One to 12 could win the tournament.
“We’re slowly building towards the Olympics, the Olympics is our main goal. We’ve got a lot of boys returning from long-term injury that’s going to really reinforce our team and bring a lot of energy and fire.
“We’re not stressing. We know what we’re doing and we’ve got a plan in place.”
The Black Ferns Sevens, who were named New Zealand’s Team of the Year at the prestigious Halberg Awards earlier this week, have also named an impressive lineup.
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Rugby World Cup winner Theresa Setefano (nee Fitzpatrick) will be back in black at the end of this month, and Shiray Kaka returns after being omitted from the SVNS Perth squad.
The rest of the squad remains pretty clear cut with 23-year-old Risaleaana Pouri-Lane set to captain the New Zealanders.
Michaela Blyde, Jazmin Felix-Hotham, Tysha Ikenasio, Tyla King (nee Nathan-Wong), Manaia Nuku, Mahina Paul, Stacey Waaka, Tenika Willison and Portia-Woodman Wickliffe.
Generational talent Jorja Miller is also in the travelling squad but will miss some game time after being sent off against Australia in the SVNS Perth quarter-finals.
The SVNS Series heads to North America later this month with stops in Vancouver and LA. The SVNS LA is from March 1 to 3 and tickets can be bought HERE.
All Blacks Sevens travelling squad
Leroy Carter (vc), Che Clark, Tepaea Cook-Savage, Scott Curry (vc), Sam Dickson (c), Fehi Fineanganofo, Andrew Knewstubb, Tim Mikkelson, Amanaki Nicole, Akuila Rokolisoa, Brady Rush, Roderick Solo, Codemeru Vai, Joe Weber
Black Ferns Sevens travelling squad
Michaela Blyde, Jazmin Felix-Hotham, Tysha Ikenasio, Shiray Kaka, Tyla King, Jorja Miller, Manaia Nuku, Mahina Paul, Risaleaana Pouri-Lane (c), Theresa Setefano, Stacey Waaka, Tenika Willison, Portia Woodman-Wickliffe
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
31 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
31 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
31 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
31 Go to comments