Young team to contest regional event
Manawatu¯ will roll out one of its youngest ever sevens squads as they roll into the Central Regional Sevens in Levin today.
Injuries and players not being available have seen coach Bertus Mulder turn to a host of younger players.
Two schoolboys are in the squad in Feilding High School year 13 Tyler Moeau and year 12 Drew Wild.
‘‘They have been earmarked for us from the start. This is a good development opportunity for them, but they are always good sevens players.’’
But there were two players in their first year out of school that had Mulder excited.
‘‘[Tobias Wickham-manuel] is a good player with good ball skills. He is quite fast so I am looking forward to seeing him. Another player I am looking forward to seeing is Leighton Ralph. He was Manawatu¯ women’s sevens coach Mike Pettman has the kind of problem every coach wants - too many quality players.
After battling low numbers at trainings last year, Pettman was spoiled for choice this year as he attempted to narrow his 20-woman squad to just 12 for the Central Regional Sevens in Levin on Saturday.
‘‘This time last year with a few girls being out, some trainings we only had six, this year we have had 20. It is great we can have games against each other and everything,’’ he said.
It has also meant that Pettman has been able to focus on coaching rather than filling in as the extra number for team runs.
Pettman had so many options he opted to rest New Zealand Sevens captain Sarah Goss after a heavy workload with the national squad in Dubai last week and loan a further three players out to other teams.
Jessica Pease and Lizzie Gould will both play on loan for Poverty Bay and Rici Malanicagi will play for Hawke’s Bay.
‘‘It is really handy because we Rebekah Tufuga, Georgia Ponsonby, Kahurangi Sturmey, Crystal Mayes, Rhiarna Ferris, Nicole Dickins, Selica Winiata, Kristina Sue, Krysten Cottrell, Hayley Hutana, Lauren Balsillie, Janna Vaughan.
can see them operate against us. They are definitely in contention as well [for the squads for nationals],’’ he said.
Defending their title in Levin would be top of the side’s priorities, but Pettman said they were not focusing on results this year.
‘‘For us it is just about working out combinations and working our own structure a little bit,’’ he said.
‘‘This time last year I was really stressing out about results and this year I have taken it out of the equation and it is just so much easier.’’
The women’s division is run in a single pool with Manawatu¯ facing Wellington, Taranaki, Hawke’s Bay and Poverty Bay.
The top four teams qualify for nationals in January.