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Ben Ryan pegs sevens star as a future All Black
By Sam Warlow
Former Fijian sevens coach Ben Ryan has some serious wraps on one of rugby’s rising stars.
“When you’re thinking of ones that are coming into the set-up, the one that stands out for me is [Etene] Nanai-Seturo,” Ryan told RugbyPass.
“The young 18 or 19-year-old for the New Zealand Sevens team that looks like he’s going to end up being a future All Black in the fifteens game."
The former schoolboy star from Auckland’s Saint Kentigern College had both rugby league and rugby union battling for his signature before he declared his allegiance to New Zealand Rugby.
“This is part of his pathway where he’s going to go to all these amazing places on the HSBC circuit and play in these cathedrals of rugby and he’s doing particularly well at the moment.”
Ryan picks Nanai-Seturo as the next sevens star to follow in the footsteps of Blues and All Blacks star Rieko Ioane, who exploded onto the World Series scene as a 17-year-old in 2015 and now has 11 test tries to his name as the All Blacks’ first choice left wing.
“Keep an eye out for him, he’ll probably be one of the next graduates of the sevens game to go on and play full test-match rugby,” said Ryan.
However, Nanai-Seturo still has some ways to go before he surpasses who Ryan believes is the best player in sevens right now.
“The clear number one for me at the moment – and there’s a runner-up in number two – it’s Jerry Tuwai for me, from Fiji.
“Gets the ball and can beat players when you just think there’s no opportunity to beat a player, and he then will charge back and make a cover tackle on someone twice his size.”
Ryan’s pick for runner-up is reigning World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year Perry Baker.
“Perry Baker obviously is also one of those players, when he gets the ball you expect fireworks.
“He’s not letting us down in that respect and again, both those teams, if they both were without those two players they would really struggle.
“The same goes for Tom Mitchell. England are a shadow of the side without Tom and that shows just how good a player he is.”
Former Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll, gold medal winning coach Ben Ryan & ex-Wallabies captain George Gregan spoke with RugbyPass ahead of the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens.
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Latest Comments
Wales were lucky the Boks should put 60 points past them
Go to commentsI'd rate the brothers Hendricks a point or two lower. Jaden has really not delivered on his early promise and Jordan's kicking at posts was quite erratic. Amongst other things.
I was really surprised that DuhDuh was replaced and not Jordan. DuhDuh had a great game and just underlined his class in a backline that was not firing on all cylinders.
Damian Willemse was missed. Hopefully he'll be back to full fitness and have an injury free 2025 (and '26 and '27 and so on until he decides to retire to spend time with his grandchildren).
RG was great. What an athlete.
Very happy that Hanekom made his debut at last. He gave a good account of himself and will hopefully grow into his role on the international stage.
All things considered, this was another frustrating Bok performance. Even though it was a comfortable win, it wasn't a commanding win. This Welsh team should've been put away by a far larger margin.
But I have faith in Dr Rassie. He knows more than I do. Bring on 2027 😁
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