Schoolboy sprint sensation Edward Osei-Nketia named in NZ sevens talent identification camp
New Zealand sprint star Edward Osei-Nketia has taken a step closer to a potential career in rugby after being named to attend a sevens talent identification camp next month.
The 18-year-old will be present at the Red Bull Ignite programme – designed by New Zealand Rugby to uncover young rugby and non-rugby playing athletes with potential in the sevens format of the game – in a non-playing capacity as he looks to keep his future rugby options open.
He will join 95 other athletes, including 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, at the event in Auckland.
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Osei-Nketia recently returned to New Zealand from the World Athletics Championships in Doha, where he was just 0.01 seconds shy of qualifying for a berth in the semi-finals.
By competing at the event, he followed the footsteps of his Ghanian-born father Gus Nketia, who competed at the world championships, Commonwealth Games and Olympic Games, and holds the New Zealand 100m record with a time of 10.11 seconds.
Earlier this year, Osei-Nketia dominated headlines after claiming the New Zealand 100m title in convincing fashion as a 17-year-old in March.
He followed that up by winning the Australian national title in Sydney a month later, setting a blistering personal best time of 10.19 seconds in the semi-finals, making him the fourth-fastest New Zealand sprinter in history.
So promising is Osei-Nketia, who also won gold at the Oceania Athletics Championships in Townsville in June, that former Olympic sprinter Chris Donaldson has tipped him to become the first New Zealander to break the 10-second barrier.
Departing Wallabies great David Pocock has confirmed he won't be coming out of retirement to add to his 83 test caps. #RWC2019 https://t.co/zT1nr1JjZW
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“If he’s running those times there’s no doubt he has potential. Whether that happens or takes place is a different story but at the moment, with the times he’s running and with his progressions, and even the way he is physically, there’s no reason why he shouldn’t,” Donaldson said to Stuff.
Osei-Nketia is aiming to qualify for next year’s Olympics in Tokyo as a sprinter, but has also expressed his intentions of representing the All Blacks in the future.
The Auckland-born youngster spent some time growing up in Canberra, and was a schoolboy rugby star during his time at St Edmunds College, telling Stuff earlier this year that he averaged “three to four” tries per game.
That spurred a trans-Tasman, cross-code war between New Zealand’s and Australia’s rugby and athletics organisations for Osei-Nketia’s services, while six-figure offers were reportedly thrown his way by NRL and AFL clubs, despite the teenager having never played rugby league or Australian football.
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For the time being, Athletics New Zealand have come out as victors, but – with the blessings from athletics officials – New Zealand Rugby met with the teenager earlier in the year, and he has now been given the opportunity to build on his interest in rugby with an introduction into an elite sevens environment.
“Really it was his interest and we’ve all collaborated together around what’s best for him,” NZR high performance sevens development manager Chad Tuoro told Stuff.
“He’s firmly focused on qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics with athletics… how exciting is that? So it was then going well, when can we get some touch points in rugby that doesn’t compromise his preparation.”
With dimensions of 1.90m and 95kg, it’s easy to understand why Osei-Nketia has become an athlete in demand and why NZR are desperate to secure his future.
Now attending Scots College in Wellington, Osei-Nketia was initially set to represent the school in both rugby and athletics this year, but his 1st XV ambitions were halted as a result of the booming success he garnered in track and field.
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However, he may be faced with a difficult decision following Tokyo 2020, as Tuoro told Stuff that he would likely need to focus solely on rugby from 2021 if he is to excel at an elite level.
Sources close to Osei-Nketia, though, suggested to RugbyPass following the World Athletics Championships that a cross-code switch is still very much on the table in a couple of years’ time.
“[His] main sport is athletics so this is a chance to connect with him really, and then after the Olympics see what happens from there,” Tuoro said to Stuff.
“Rugby’s generally a late-developer sport but to try and crack it into the professional space and his age right now, probably after the Olympics is a logical time to switch. And, being biased, sevens would probably be a good entry point into rugby.”
Six of the 96 athletes attending the Red Bull Ignite event will be handed spots in the All Blacks Sevens and Black Ferns Sevens development camps ahead of their upcoming seasons.
The Black Ferns Sevens kicked off their 2019/20 campaign last month with a third-place finish at the Glendale Sevens in the United States.
They will continue their season at next month’s Dubai Sevens, where the All Blacks Sevens will kick-off their World Series campaign as both teams build towards the Tokyo Olympics next August.
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Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 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
1 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 Crusades , you can keep going.
1 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!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 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.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments