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Olympian and rising star headline squads for Australia’s Next Gen Sevens
By Finn Morton
An Olympian and a breakout player from the 2023/24 SVNS Series are among those named in one of two squads for the Next Gen Sevens. The top emerging talent in Australia's women’s sevens will be showcased across three events in October, starting this weekend in Sydney.
NSW Waratahs Women’s Sevens will take on their Queensland Reds counterparts at Forshaw Rugby Park in Sydney on Saturday. The other two rounds will take place on October 12 in Toowoomba and October 20 at Byron Bay Rugby Union Club.
This weekend, the Waratahs have named Australian Sevens rookie Ruby Nicholas in their squad. Nicholas debuted on the SVNS Series at the prestigious Hong Kong Sevens and didn’t look back as Australia went on to claim the overall title in Madrid.
Nicholas wasn’t originally named in Australia’s squad for the event in Hong Kong China but an injury to Heidi Dennis changed that. The teenager was called in and went on to impress, scoring a runaway try towards the north stand during a big win over the fighting Irish.
While Nicholas wasn’t named in Team Australia’s squad for the Paris Olympics, there’s no doubt the rising star has a bright future ahead of her in rugby sevens. But, first thing is first, Nicholas can be expected to play a key role in the Waratahs’ Next Gen Sevens campaign.
As for Queensland, they’ve been boosted by the inclusion of Kahli Henwood who debuted for Australia at the Paris Olympics. Henwood joins 2023 Wallaroos Carys Dallinger and Melani Wilks in the Queensland Reds’ squad.
Heidi Dennis – the same player who suffered the ankle injury which saw Nicholas debut in Hong Kong China – has been named in the Reds’ extended squad with Olympian Demi Hayes, but the pair are still no guarantee to play in the event.
Maddison Levi, Tagan Levi, Faith Nathan Madison Ashby, Bienne Terita and Kaitlin Shave are among those who have graduated from the Next Gen level before taking the SVNS Series world by storm. It’s a crucial marker for the Australia Women’s Sevens program.
“The Next Gen Sevens series is integral to recruit and develop the next generation of the best of the best ‘top gun’ oval ball athletes to represent Australia on the world stage,” Australia Women’s Sevens coach Tim Walsh said in a statement.
“This series prepares players for global travel with Australia A and builds depth for the future of the Australian Women’s Sevens program.”
NSW Waratahs Women’s 7s
Ruby Nicholas, Kilahla Duff, Ella Fountaine, Piper Simons, Milla Elaro, Mackenzie Davis, Damita Betham, Ella Carlisle, Chanel Williams, Logan Lemusu, Edie Burke, Chaela-lee Falls, Amelia Whitaker, Jacinta Windsor, Georgie Fowler, Tess Orton, Stephanie Kellaway, Tatum Bird, Waiaria Ellis, Pyper Marchant, Tahlia O’Brien
Queensland Reds Women’s 7s
Sophie Duff, Emma Stockwell, Rhani Hagan, Carys Dallinger, Amahli Hala, Zoe Waters, Tahli Devine, Meg Gemmell, Kaelyn Passi, Kianna Maclean, Caitlin Urwin, Melanie Wilks, Fa’agase Tupuola-Palale, Tahlia Evans, Emmisyn Wynyard, Piper Flynn, Faythe Manera, Indiahna Frawley, Madison Pomerenke, Charli Nikola, Ava Wereta, Taleah Ackland, Fleur Ginn, Kahli Henwood, Heidi Dennis
Next Gen Sevens Series 2024
Round 1 – Saturday 5 October, Forshaw Rugby Park, Sydney (from 10am AEST)
Round 2 – Saturday 12 October, Toowoomba Sports Ground, East Toowoomba (from 9:30am AEDT)
Round 3 – Sunday 20 October, Byron Bay Rugby Union Club, Byron Bay (from 9:45am AEDT)
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Latest Comments
Warren, if you think you should stay on coaching Wales, you are beyond deluded. If you love Wales & Welsh rugby as much as you say you do (& I'm sure you probably do) you should resign immediately so this once proud & passionate rugby nation can rebuild without you. How many of your players will make the British & Irish Lions squad.?
It's time to walk the plank.!
Go to commentsYeah nar I pretty much agree with that sentiment, wasn't just about the lineout though.
Yeah, I think it's the future of SR, even TRC. Graham above just now posting about how good a night it was with a dbl header of ENGvSA and NZvFrance, and now I don't want to kick SA or Argentina out of TRC but it would be great if in this next of the woods 2 more top teams could come in to create more of these sort of nights (for rugby's appeal). Often Arg and SA and both travel here and you get those games but more often doesn't work out right.
Obviously a long way off but USA and Japan are the obvious two. First thing we need to do is get Eddie Jones kicked out of Japan so they can start improving again and then get a couple of US teams in SRP (even if one its just a US based and augmented Jaguares).
It will start off the whole conferences are crap debate again (which I will continue to argue vehemently against), but imagine a 6 team Pacific conference, Tokyo Sunwolves (drafted from Tokyo JRLO teams), Tokyo All Stars (made up of best remaining foreign players and overseas drafts), ALL Nihon (best of local non Tokyo based talent, inc China/Korea etc, with mainland Japan), a could of West Coast american franchises and perhaps a second self PI driven Hawai'i based team, or Jagaures. So I see a short NFL like 3 or 4 month comp as fitting best, maybe not even a full round, NZvAUSvPAC, all games taking place within a 6hr window. Model for NZ will definitely still require a competitive and funded NPC!
On the Crusaders, I liked last years ending with Grace on the bench (ovbiously form dependent but thats how it ended) and Lio-Willie at 8. I could have Blackadder trying to be a 7 but think balance will be used with him at 6 and Kellow as 7. Scott Barrett is an international 6 sized player. It is just NZ style/model that pushes him into the tight, I reckon he'd be a great loose player, and saders have Strange and Cahill as bigger players (plus that change could draw someone like Darry back). Same with Haig now, hes not grown yet but Barrett hight and been playing 6, now that the Highlanders have only chosen two locks he'll be playing lock, and that is going to change his growth trajectory massively, rather than seeing him grow like an International 6.
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