Cama: New role an exciting one

ALL Blacks 7s head coach Tomasi Cama Jr says he has been finding his new role as head coach an exciting one after being selected for the position in August last year.

The former 7s icon took over the position from former head coach Clark Laidwall after spending six seasons with the side as assistant head coach.

“The journey has been an exciting one, but also challenging at times,” he said.

“But I’ve been enjoying it, I got people I can rely on and help me out like my management staff.”

Since taking up the post, Cama said he had learned a lot along the way as a coach and was looking forward to what the rest of the HSBC 7s Series holds for his side.

“Compared with assistant head coach, I now have to look after all the aspects of the team, not just the rugby side but I’m looking forward to what the rest of the season holds for us.”

Cama’s side competed at the Fiji Bitter Marist 7s tournament over the weekend where they went down fighting 10-0 to DXC Barbarians.

Cama said the tournament would help him and his staff members with their selections for the upcoming HSBC Hong Kong 7s tournament next month.

“The Fiji Bitter Marist 7s was a great learning experience for the boys, and it will certainly help us with our selections for Hong Kong.”

With a handful of new faces in his side, Cama said bringing in new players into the team had not been easy.

“It’s mainly because there’s not a lot of local 7s tournament back in New Zealand so most players playing rugby are all into 15s. So for the Marist 7s tournament, we were able to get a few players and develop them for the future and hopefully we can get more players back home to join our 7s program.”