Linton muster team for sevens
Linton Army will be missing some of their key troops for their assault on national club sevens in Hamilton this weekend.
But coach Ross Rainham is confident he has assembled a bunch up to the task of lifting the Middlesex County Wavell Wakefield Cup.
The tournament, hosted by defending champions Melville, features the top club sevens teams in the country.
Linton Army qualified by winning the Manawatu Club Sevens in November.
On that day Linton Black, the club’s second-ranked side, went through the competition unbeaten to take the title.
And with a bunch of frontliners out, the club will be looking to prove their depth is once again up to the task.
In typical fashion, the military men have battled player availability to pull together their side with army assignments dealing a significant blow to their player stocks. Even regular coach Ben James is unavailable after being posted overseas.
But the biggest blow to the team is a trio of stars - Jaxon Tagavaitau, Tamatoa Ropati and Reece White - who have all been ruled out.
Former Manawatu Turbo Tagavaitau is Antarctica while Manawatu sevens teammate White is injured. Ropati, the team’s most dangerous stepper, is also injured.
But Rainham believed he had assembled a quality group.
‘‘You don’t need a whole team of stars and steppers.
‘‘The team is built on guys who play hard and love to tackle,’’ he said.
‘‘If you can get your defence right in sevens, you are halfway there. The last two weeks we have gone pretty well so we will just go out there and give it a nudge and see how we go.’’
The team had Black Ferns assistant coach Wesley Clarke helping train them while Rainham and co-coach Dwayne Eriksson
were out of town in the leadup to the event.
Jared Deal, who trained with the Manawatu sevens team, has been named captain and is joined in the team by fellow Manawatu sevens squad member Tevita Faukafa.
Tejay Oliver should add some spark to their attack alongside former Manawatu Development XV midfielder Logan Broughton.
Teams are allowed to call on one school leaver and one out of town player for the tournament.
Linton opted for family ties with Central Hawke’s Bay 1st XV midfielder Mackenzie Oliver, brother of Tejay, and Bay of Plenty-based loose forward Josh White, brother of Angus and Reece, called into the team.