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‘Hard to watch’: Black Ferns Sevens coach provides update on injured duo

Shiray Kaka of New Zealand runs with the ball during the 2023 Sydney Sevens match between New Zealand and Japan at Allianz Stadium on January 28, 2023 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)

Black Ferns Sevens coach Cory Sweeney has provided an update on injured duo Tyla King and Shiray Kaka, with the pair watching on from the stands on day three at SVNS Singapore.

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New Zealand’s clinical 24-5 win over Great Britain in Saturday’s quarter-final at the National Stadium came at a significant cost with the two Olympic gold medallists leaving the field during the second half.

Dual international Tyla King, who is the reigning World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year, was the first to make way after leaving the field on a medical cart. Unfortunately, Kaka appeared to suffer a more significant injury shortly after.

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Kaka, who received an individual trophy at last month’s Hong Kong Sevens after being recognised as the best and fairest, had to be carried off the field at the Singaporean venue with what looked like a knee injury.

Following New Zealand’s 33-22 win over Fiji in the semi-finals, coach Cory Sweeney opened up about the injuries with the team still waiting “for some scans” as they assess the damage to Kaka’s knee.

“So Tyla has got a rolled ankle with a bit of swelling overnight. She’s obviously not playing today but we will find out exactly how severe that is over the coming days,” Sweeney told RugbyPass on Sunday afternoon.

“Shiray has done her knee so we’re just waiting for some scans to come back on that and see how severe that is as well.”

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The Black Ferns Sevens’ ranks are deployed with coach Sweeney only having 11 players to choose from in their semi-final and the Cup decider against Australia.

Captain Risi Pouri-Lane told this website on day two that the absence of King and Kakak definitely presented a “hole” in the talented New Zealand team, but the skipper remained confident in the squad’s ability to step up.

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Playing against the Fijians, that’s exactly what the Kiwi women did. Stacey Waaka, Jorja Miller and Michaela Blyde (double) all got on the scoresheet along with Pouri-Lane who also took over starting goal-kicking duties from King.

“We’ve got two special people that our ladies witnessed go down yesterday and that’s always hard to watch. There’s always an emotional connection to that straightaway,” Sweeney reflected.

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“The girls, they showed up today and showed up for those two that got injured and took their opportunity as well.

“That’s what we really ask of this team and they did a good job.”

Catch up on all the latest SVNS Series action from the 2023/24 season on RugbyPass TV. SVNS Singapore is live and free to watch, all you need to do is sign up HERE.

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2 Comments
J
John 200 days ago

Morning, John. Do you think that it may be a good idea to rest both teams from the Madrid comp leading in to the Olympics

T
Tony 201 days ago

The Black Ferns 7’s have been without Captain Sarah Hirini now since Dec 23 in Dubai where she suffered a bad ACL injury - hopefully she is on the road to recovery for Madrid and Paris. Now also have Tyler King and Shiray kaka on the Injured List but the Team still found a way to win in Singapore and claim the overall Title.

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Hellhound 37 minutes ago
France put World Cup pain behind them with unbeaten run in November

France is starting to look like they are finally over their WC headache, although they were lucky that NZ had a very bad game. The Argies as usual is one game good, the next bad. If they can sort that out and be more consistent, they could become contenders for the WC.


NZ, Argentina (if they are more consistent), and now the Wallabies too is in an upward curve (can they be consistent?), as well as Fiji(as inconsistent as Argentina) looks like possible contenders. The Boks will be as usual a huge threat to defend their title. Things are looking up for the South, so the North should rightfully beware of the Southern Hemisphere threat.


With the French looking dangerous, the English with their close runs (mostly a mindset problem) and the Scottish seems to be the NH main contenders. The Irish is good, but not excellent anymore. They are more overbearing and with their glory days mostly gone with old players hanging on by a thread, by 2027 if they don't start adding in the younger players, they won't make it past yet another WC Quarter final. The problem is that their youngsters, while good is nothing special.


That is just 8 teams without the Irish that can become real WC contenders. Lots of hickups to be sorted still for these teams, excluding the Boks to become a threat. Make no mistake, the top Tier is much closer than people realise and the 2027 WC will be a really great WC, possibly the best contended WC ever.

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