New Zealanders Stacey Waaka and Leroy Carter ruled out of SVNS Vancouver

Before a ball was kicked or a try scored at SVNS Vancouver, both the Black Ferns Sevens and All Blacks Sevens were dealt major blows as two star players were ruled out of the event.

As confirmed by New Zealand Sevens on the eve of the SVNS Series’ fourth event of the season, Olympic gold medallist Stacey Waaka will miss the entire event due to a calf injury.

All Blacks Sevens ace Leroy Carter is another absentee this week with the 2023 World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year nominee pulling up with a sore hamstring.

Xavier Tito-Harris has been called up to replace Carter while Kelsey Teneti, who was impressive during SVNS Perth last month, will fill the gap left by the injured Waaka.

The rest of both squads remain unchanged. Both New Zealand teams are chasing their first Cup final win of the season after an uncharacteristically slow start to the 2023/24 campaign.

After losing to arch-rivals Australia in the Dubai final in December, the Black Ferns Sevens have failed to make it past the semis and quarters in the last two events respectively.

But the New Zealand’s women’s sevens side, who were recently named the nation’s Team of the Year at the Halberg Awards, have been boosted by the return of some big-name players.

Theresa Setefano (nee Fitzpatrick) is back in the mix, and Shiray Kaka is another key inclusion after missing out on selection for the tournament in Perth.

23-year-old Risaleaana Pouri-Lane will captain the Black Ferns Sevens again this weekend.

As for the All Blacks Sevens, it’s hard to look past the selections of Joe Weber, Amanaki Nicole and Roderick Solo who are all back in black in Vancouver.

The New Zealanders failed to qualify for the Cup quarter-finals. They’ll be eager to get their campaign back on track in The Great White North.

“It’s probably the amount of rugby that we’ve played,” Sam Dickson told RugbyPass in Perth late last month.

“We had a real disjointed off-season with more than half of our squad playing NPC and we didn’t really have a proper pre-season. We trying to play a little bit of catchup in that case.

“Credit to the other teams, they’re playing outstanding this year and you could see the whole level has raised so much. One to 12 could win the tournament.

“We’re slowly building towards the Olympics, the Olympics is our main goal. We’ve got a lot of boys returning from long-term injury that’s going to really reinforce our team and bring a lot of energy and fire.

“We’re not stressing. We know what we’re doing and we’ve got a plan in place.”

Updated Black Ferns Sevens squad

Michaela Blyde, Tyla King, Theresa Setefano, Portia Woodman-Wicliffe, Jazmin Felix-Hotham, Kelsey Teneti, Shiray Kaka, Tysha Ikenasio, Manaia Nuku, Risaleaana Pouri-Lane (c), Mahina Paul, Jorja Miller, Teneika Willison

Updated All Blacks Sevens squad

Scott Curry, Brady Rush, Akuila Rokolisoa, Sam Dickson (c), Amanaki Nicole, Joe Webber, Tim Mikkelson, Che Clarke, Tepaea Cook-Savage, Codemeru Vai, Fehi Fineanganofo, Xavier Tito-Harris, Roderick Solo