All Blacks Sevens Oli Mathis and Black Ferns Sevens Katelyn Vahaakolo
Photo: Photosport/Collage
The World Rugby Sevens Series starts in Dubai this weekend, and after seven rounds over seven months, will wrap up with a World Championship in Los Angeles in May.
This season, the league winners are being crowned on the penultimate stop in Singapore.
New Zealand’s women enter the new season as the Olympic champions and the New Zealand men are aiming to get back to the top after a tough last season.
Professionalism and peer-coaching
Photo: Iain McGregor / www.photosport.nz
Black Ferns Sevens coach Corey Sweeney cannot remember a time when he has not had at least one of Portia Woodman-Wickcliffe, Stacey Waaka or Michaela Blyde for a tournament.
The trio have done the bulk of the Black Ferns Sevens scoring for many seasons on the world circuit, and Blyde and Waaka would return at some point, but Sweeney could see the added benefit of giving newcomer Katelyn Vahaakolo as well as 14-cap Dhys Faleafaga and 13-cap Kelsey Teneti time on the field.
“The rest of the world actually don’t know about these three athletes so there’s a real opportunity to take teams by surprise this weekend.
“Other teams have seen Katelyn on the world stage with the 15s but even with ourselves there is a bit of an unknown there and that’s quite exciting because it really does become a blank canvas.”
Katelyn Vahaakolo of New Zealand scores a try during their WXV1 women’s rugby union match against France Women at BC Place, Vancouver, Canada on Saturday 12 October 2024.
Photo credit: Jeff Vinnick / www.photosport.nz
Photo: WWW.PHOTOSPORT.NZ
Rugby league player turned rugby 15s flyer Vahaakolo was now trying her hand at sevens despite still aiming to get to the 2025 Rugby World Cup with the Black Ferns.
“It’s the first time in a number of years that we’ve had a player that has been majority with the 15s come across to sevens and I think that is a sign of things to come it’s really exciting that we can have players crossing over programmes,” Sweeney said.
Vahaakolo was not the finished sevens product but Sweeney said she thrived when she was on a learning curve.
“Her energy and learning potential has been immense … her challenge will be to just try and strip out all the detail try and be as free as you can be come the weekend. We’ll support her as much as possible but ultimately we want her with the ball in space so she can use her footwork and her speed and bring herself to the sevens arena.
“I’m expecting her to have a couple of successful weekends and not just in performance but learning and connection as well.”
While the retired Tyla Nathan-Wong was also missing, Justine McGregor and Olive Watherston were with the Black Ferns Sevens for the first time in Dubai.
Dhys Faleafaga playing for Wellington.
Photo: © Photosport Ltd 2018 www.photosport.nz
Faleafaga, 24, was returning for her first tournament with the Black Ferns Sevens since the birth of her twin boys.
Faleafaga was first involved with the Black Ferns Sevens in 2019 and said in her comeback she had noticed the talent coming through.
“It’s pretty cool to see the women’s game all the teams are catching up to New Zealand and the uncertainty of who is going to win the world series.”
Sweeney said across the world sevens circuit, a number of teams had brought in new players and coaches for 2024/25, including New Zealander and Chiefs women’s coach Crystal Kaua.
“A start of a new cycle there’s a lot of young players that have been working away in academies, under-20 programmes, school programmes and they’re going to get their chance on the stage.”
Alena Saili is in her eighth season on the circuit and she said after two Olympic cycles, other countries were now investing more in the sport.
She said the rise of Brazil, Spain and Ireland last season were an example of how sevens was developing.
“All these teams you wouldn’t expect being the top six [are] all of a sudden coming through, so it just shows how much work each country is putting through, but it is up to us as the New Zealand Sevens teams to keep building the game and keep being multi-dimensional and just try and lead the game so that people don’t catch us. Hopefully we keep evolving as time goes on.”
Changing of the guard after disappointment in Paris
The All Blacks Sevens after defeat in Paris.
Photo: ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan
The All Blacks Sevens lost leaders in the off-season with the retirement of Scott Curry, Tim Mikkelson and Sam Dickson.
The experienced trio exited the international game after being a part of the New Zealand team that finished fifth at the Paris Olympics.
Moses Leo, Payton Spencer, Leroy Carter, Che Clark, Tepaea Cook-Savage and Fehi Fineanganofo have also left the sevens side.
Coach Tomasi Cama said the team was looking forward to a fresh start and had talked a lot about accountability during the pre-season.
“For us to look after our own self and then how do we trust in each other and trust in our own ability and the way we want to play the game. We understand it’s going to be tough but that’s why we are here, because we can rise to the challenge.
“We’ll miss opportunities here and there and make errors but that’s part of the game and part of us trying to evolve the way we want to play our game.
“We’re really excited with how we can start this as a foundation of this cycle.”
Cama saw his squad as being ready for the battle of a series with fewer teams.
“We love to fight, we love to stay in the fight and that’s what we want to see this week, as challenging as it is. It’s going to be tough but we certainly talk about it and we try and build this tough man to front and to fight.”
Andrew Knewstubb of New Zealand on his way to score a try.
Photo: Photosport
Andrew Knewstubb has played more than 160 times for the sevens side and will be a key playmaker for the re-jigged side this season.
Knewstubb said the team had always been accountable but the spotlight had been put on that notion this season both on and off the field – and it was allowing the players to be more open.
“We’ve got more freedom to talk to players more honestly so that can only be better for our growth.
“If something is not good enough we’re not going to sweep it under the rug we’re going to take it front on.”
Cama said the change in the forwards was an opportunity for other players to step up this season.
He could still call on Dylan Collier and Sione Molia, who had played more than 500 games between them, as well as Lewis Ormond who had caught his eye in training and Tone Ng Shiu.
“We’ll look to give more minutes to these guys and it will give us a good measure of where we’re at and where we can start and build on moving on to the rest of the year.”
The three newcomers – teenagers Oli Mathis and Joey Taumateine and 23-year-old Sofai Maka – deserved their place in the team, Cama said.
For Maka, just being called into training with the side with some of his heroes was a big moment – so being in Dubai was another level.
Despite being new to the environment Maka understood what was needed in the season opener.
“This tournament will be important for us, we’ve got a lot of boys injured so its for all the young boys to step up to the plate and hopefully provide some energy for the experienced boys who have been doing it for a while.”
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The All Blacks Sevens play USA, Spain and Fiji in pool play and the Black Ferns Sevens play Brazil, Japan and Canada.
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