‘Sevens Idol’ attracts our stars of the future
Sons of All Blacks, the niece of another, a Central Pulse netballer and the brother of a rising 15 a-side star will be among the headline acts at the inaugural Ignite7s.
In New Zealand Rugby’s (NZR’s) equivalent of a TV talent show, 96 players from various codes and backgrounds have been selected rom 500 applicants to take part in the event next month. The 48 men and 48 women assemble for a five-day camp that culminates in a tournament that will be broadcast live on Sky TV.
In keeping with the talent show theme, a documentary will then screen on Sky and Prime chronicling the journey of the 96 athletes. When that’s all said and done, three men and three women will be offered the chance to train with New Zealand’s world champion sevens squads.
Among the 96 athletes involved, it’s inevitable fans will be interested in how youngsters such as Niko Jones and Robert Rush go. The sons of Michael Jones and Eric Rush, they have enjoyed fine schools careers in Auckland.
Beyond them, Fritz Rayasi is another who ought to catch the eye. Younger brother of New Zealand sevens star, turned Auckland wing, Salesi Rayasi, Fritz is also blessed with express pace.
Canterbury’s Farah Palmer Cup player Grace Steinmetz comes with a good pedigree too. Niece of former All Black Paul Steinmetz, Grace has been a New Zealand Universities hockey rep as well.
Then there’s former Northern Mystics netballer Mererangi Paul and 2018 Central Pulse squad member Renee Savai’inaea. A sevens and 15-a-side rugby star at St Mary’s College, Savai’inaea also excelled in basketball as well as being a New Zealand secondary schools and under-21 netball player.
Other athletes of note include 400-metre runner Thomas Woods and emerging AFL talent Carlos DonnellBrown.
‘‘We’re taking it very seriously,’’ NZR high performance sevens manager Tony Philp said.
‘‘We’ve put a lot of time into the selection process to get the right people. It’s the first year so we’re going to learn a lot out of it and we’re confident that we’re going to identify the three men’s and three women’s players to go into the [national] development programme this time next year.’’
Philp estimated that 15 to 20 per cent of the 96 had no formal background in rugby, which was the point of the exercise. This is about exposing different people to sevens.
The same with the 400-odd applicants who didn’t make it this far. They’re now part of NZR’s database and have been pointed in the right direction so that they can hopefully make the cut next year.
New Zealand might be the men’s and women’s world champions, but that’s no reason to get lazy.
‘‘Yes, we had a great year with the All Blacks sevens and Black Ferns sevens programmes, but we can’t be complacent and if we identify some talent from this that can get on the world stage and make us even better, then we’ll take that opportunity,’’ said Philp.