NZ teams to take on
New Zealand’s rugby sevens teams will return to the international stage for the first time in more than a year, against Australia in an Olympic warmup tournament in Auckland this month.
The men’s and women’s teams, the All Blacks sevens and the Black Ferns sevens, haven’t played an international fixture since the Covid19 pandemic halted the World Sevens Series last year.
Yesterday, New Zealand Rugby announced the Auckland event, to be played on May 21-23, after the Australian teams agreed to travel across the Tasman for matches ahead of July’s Tokyo Olympics.
The venue is yet to be confirmed but is set to be a club ground. Some matches could also be staged at Eden Park around the Super Rugby trans-Tasman clash between the Blues and the Waratahs on May 22.
There was a similar format when the Kiwi teams played in Wellington in April, with matches at Hataitai Park, then at Sky Stadium either side of the Super Rugby Aotearoa fixture between the Hurricanes and the Crusaders.
The Auckland tournament is
important for both nations as they step up preparations for Tokyo and there will be a rematch of the 2016 Rio Olympics final when Australia’s women’s team broke the hearts of the Black Ferns sevens to win gold.
It will also be the first opportunity for the men’s Super Rugby players, if