‘This is what we play for’: Ngarohi McGarvey-Black back on SVNS stage

Ngarohi McGarvey-Black missed the entire HSBC SVNS Series regular season and the opening stop of the World Championship Series, but the All Blacks Sevens playmaker is back embracing the elements after returning to the field in Valladolid.

McGarvey-Black picked up a shoulder injury during the Ignite 7 tournament in Tauranga late last year but was named to return in the penultimate event of the season. Jayden Keelan was another notable inclusion in the travelling squad for Valladolid and Bordeaux.

With the sun bearing down on a scorching morning in northwestern Spain, McGarvey-Black took the field for a Pool B clash with Uruguay. The 30-year-old slotted four conversions as the New Zealanders ran away with a 40-0 shutout win over the qualifiers out of SVNS 2.

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There were six different try-scorers for the All Blacks Sevens, with Kitiona Vai starting the point-scoring blitz in the third minute. McGarvey-Black was interviewed post-game and was quick to point out just how hot it was at Estadio José Zorilla.

“Oh bloody hell, I thought I was good leading into today,” McGarvey-Black said on the broadcast, which you can watch on RugbyPass TV HERE.

“You come here, different climates, bloody 30-something degrees. Back in New Zealand, it’s a little bit of winter so yeah it’s nothing compared to what we’ve in training in back home.

“But this is what we play for. We love the pain so it is what it is.”

Vai had crossed for the opener early on Friday morning, before Roderick Solo and stand-in captain Sione Molia helped pile on the points. Molia was named the All Blacks Sevens captain for the event after Dyler Collier was ruled out due to injury.

It was more of the same during the second term for the New Zealanders, who were in control from start to finish. Kele Lasaqa and Regan Ware both got on the scoresheet, before Akuila Rokolisoa rounded out the result with a 16th-minute effort.

“The word that we used the whole week was just grateful,” Molia told RugbyPass. “Grateful that we get to be on the other side of the world in Spain and do the things that we love.

“That’s all big ups to the management and the leadership group back home, just making it real easy for whoever gets that call to fill in the shoes to just go in and do the job.

“We all knew Uruguay is a bit of a niggly team to get a start on for the tournament.

“We just talked about winning all the effort areas and I thought we did that and that’s what got us the win.”