Emotional goodbye Ruby Tuesday
No, Stacey Waaka isn’t sick.
The New Zealand women’s sevens player raised alarm bells when showing up for a media session yesterday with a husky voice.
Everyone has been on high alert since Ruby Tui was ruled out of the Commonwealth Games after contracting the mumps, but Waaka said her sore throat was the result of extended haka practice.
That practice included an emotional sendoff from Tui when she left their camp on the Sunshine Coast to return to New Zealand.
‘‘It was sad, but that’s the protocol of our team. We loved it, we could see the tears in her eyes, we were all crying,’’ Waaka said.
Even when Tui was taken to hospital, Waaka still thought she would be returning to camp.
‘‘We honestly thought she would be OK because she is honestly the toughest person in our team, that’s a fact. So we were like ‘na, na, Ruby is going to be ok’, but unfortunately she’s not.’’
Tui was replaced by 19-year-old Alena Saili with 17-year-old Risi Pouri-Lane confirmed as the travelling reserve. Pouri-Lane would make her international debut if she was called into the side.
The squad has finally been allowed to travel south towards Surfers Paradise after 10 days on the Sunshine Coast, which included an ‘‘interesting’’ day in isolation after Tui was diagnosed, Waaka said.
‘‘It was isolation, literally inside for a whole day and a half.
‘‘We weren’t allowed any contact with anyone else, so that was weird, but we did have a lot of entertainment indoors. Video games, cards and movies, so it was great. It was relaxing, that was our day off, so it was OK.’’
Although they have moved down to the epicentre of the Games, they’re in a set of apartments, rather than the athletes’ village, as a further health precaution.
The women’s sevens team revelled in the bountiful free food on offer at the Rio Olympics’ athletes’ village after their event, but Waaka said missing out on that wasn’t the worst result, especially as they don’t play till the last three days of the Games.
‘‘Those are long lines, we get the service around here.
‘‘We actually like being in the apartments because we have our own chef over from Tauranga and she’s amazing, so we’re not really losing out on much I don’t think.’’
The women’s team start their campaign on Friday with pool play against Canada, South Africa and Kenya.
Meanwhile, the New Zealand men’s sevens side called in Akuila Rokolisoa, who made his New Zealand Sevens debut last weekend in Hong Kong, as its travelling reserve.
Rokolisoa would replace Caleb Clarke who has been ruled out with appendicitis. Clarke has also returned to New Zealand.
❚ More stories B12