Buckingham chases spot in sevens team
Southland rugby player Kendall Buckingham has been selected as one of 36 final triallists for the New Zealand women’s sevens development team.
From more than 100 players, 36 players have progressed to the next stage of the trial process to compete against each other as part of three teams.
The tournament will also include a Cook Islands team and will be held over two days in Rotorua this weekend.
A final group of 20 players will be selected to undertake a fully funded development programme.
The development squad will have the opportunity to play in Japan and other overseas fixtures.
Buckingham is another product from the impressive Southland Girls’ High School team of recent years.
She started building her skills in touch and in her later years of high school took up rugby.
Buckingham is one of seven girls currently in the Rugby Southland academy.
Her progress is another feather in the cap for Rugby Southland in terms of developing female players.
Buckingham’s former Southland Girls’ teammate Alena Saili is contracted by New Zealand Rugby as part of the main national women’s sevens gramme.
Southland women’s coach Andrew Rowland was delighted with the latest development.
‘‘Only a few years ago it seemed it was only the Black Ferns team that female players could strive for as a income pathway,’’ he said.
‘‘Now the opportunities have grown to sevens, sevens development, university teams and age group representative teams like the under 18s squad.
‘‘These opportunities have arisen from the regional identification and trainings like the Go for Gold campaign and the 2020 regional training squads and can lead to great things.’’ pro-