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Son of sevens legend and current Highlanders fullback key names in New Zealand national sevens selections
By Online Editors
Northland’s Brady Rush, son of All Blacks Sevens legend Eric Rush, is set to follow in his father’s footsteps, joining the All Blacks Sevens squad as a contracted player in 2021.
Rush, along with North Harbour’s Moses Leo and Waikato’s Manaia Nuku are the newcomers to the All Blacks Sevens and Black Ferns Sevens squads, six months out from the Tokyo Olympics.
All three players impressed at December’s Red Bull Ignite7, Rush was named tournament MVP, Leo picked up the Players’ Player of the Tournament while Nuku was also nominated for the Players’ Player award.
Black Ferns Sevens Coaches Allan Bunting and Cory Sweeney bring Nuku into an established squad, with 20 of 21 players having international experience.
Nuku had an impressive 2020, the Hamilton Girls’ High School student made her Farah Palmer Cup debut for Waikato and captained the New Zealand Condor Schools sevens team at the World School Sevens in December. She replaces Kayla Ahki in the squad, who returned to France to be with her family last year.
She also joins Shiray Kaka, Tenika Willison, Terina Te Tamaki and Jazmin Hotham as Hamilton Girls’ High School alumni in the national team, making up a quarter of the full squad.
“Manaia is a smart young player with exciting talent. She has great instinct and a strong skill set so we are really looking forward to seeing her grow in our team,” said Sweeney.
All Blacks Sevens Coach Clark Laidlaw said Rush and Leo have the potential to be sevens specialists going forward.
“Brady comes from good pedigree of course; he is relaxed off the field but has a competitive edge on the field. Moses has real resilience; he has gone through some tough years with injuries, but he is a dynamic attacking player. They are both great men and have fit in straight away.”
Rush, made his Mitre 10 Cup debut for Northland in 2020 against Otago, while Moses Leo was involved in the North Harbour wider squad last season. They replace Jacob Ratumaituvuki-Kneepkens who has signed with the Blues and Joe Ravouvou who took a contract in France last year.
Vilimoni Koroi has joined the squad from the Highlanders, the inclusion of Super Rugby players from other clubs will be finalised and announced in coming months.
The All Blacks Sevens and Black Ferns Sevens are both training for their first competitions of the year, held in Tauranga next month.
The All Blacks Sevens will play a series of matches against Tonga and the Black Ferns Sevens team will play internal matches. Plans are underway for an Oceania tournament before the World Series events currently scheduled for London and Paris in May/June.
All Blacks Sevens squad
Kurt Baker (Hawke's Bay)
Dylan Collier (Waikato)
Scott Curry (Bay of Plenty)
Sam Dickson (Bay of Plenty)
Trael Joass (Bay of Plenty)
Andrew Knewstubb (Canterbury)
Vilimoni Koroi (Otago)
Moses Leo (North Harbour)
Ngarohi McGarvey-Black (North Harbour)
Tim Mikkelson (Waikato)
Sione Molia (Counties Manukau)
Tone Ng Shiu (Auckland)
Amanaki Nicole (Southland)
Akuila Rokolisoa (Counties Manukau)
Brady Rush (Northland)
Ollie Sapsford (Hawke's Bay)
Kitiona Vai (Auckland)
William Warbrick (Bay of Plenty)
Regan Ware (Bay of Plenty)
Joe Webber (Bay of Plenty)
Black Ferns Sevens squad
Shakira Baker (Waikato)
Michaela Blyde (Bay of Plenty)
Kelly Brazier (Bay of Plenty)
Gayle Broughton (Taranaki)
Dhys Faleafaga (Wellington)
Theresa Fitzpatrick (Auckland)
Stacey Fluhler (Waikato)
Sarah Hirini (Manawatu)
Jazmin Hotham (Waikato)
Shiray Kaka (Waikato)
Tyla Nathan-Wong (Northland)
Manaia Nuku (Waikato)
Mahina Paul (Bay of Plenty)
Risaleeana Pouri-Lane (Bay of Plenty)
Cheyelle Robins-Reti (Waikato)
Alena Saili (Bay of Plenty)
Terina Te Tamaki (Waikato)
Ruby Tui (Counties Manukau)
Niall Williams (Auckland)
Tenika Willison (Waikato)
Portia Woodman (Northland)
- New Zealand Rugby
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Latest Comments
The difference between Fassi and Le Roux?
Almost 100 tests. Fassi is growing from test to test and is already world class. It’s going to be difficult for Damian Willemse to usurp Fassi at 15 and may find himself destined as the utility back on the bomb squad.
South Africans love hating on their fullback. A proud tradition since Percy Montgomery (before he won us a World Cup). So I don’t pay much mind to the noise that follows anyone who puts on the 15 jersey for SA.
15 is a high risk, low reward position. You don’t dare drop a high ball, certainly don’t shank a kick into the stands. In fact if you’re not kicking 60m torpedoes into the opposition corners - stay at home.
And miss tackles? After everyone else on the team has let a break through - best you not miss!
Only Andre Joubert strikes me as a fullback that has been better than Willie. Yet Willie has been widely panned on a regular basis. Irritating.
Fassi is great. And I’m sure he’s learning a lot from Willie.
Go to commentsNo, Penney's win rate as a Super Rugby coach BEFORE he was given a 2 year contract here, was 23%. He came in with a very poor success rate at SR level.
This loser vibe was borne out over the SR season where we won only 4 games while losing 10. Finishing 9th in a 12 team competition & missing a QF spot was next level DOWN.
There's zero evidence that suggests we will win 10 games (70%) as you predict. I understand there may be new assistant coaches coming on board. At this stage, we can only hope for the best.
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