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Caleb Clarke named in extended All Blacks Sevens squad as Olympics deadline looms

Photo: Andrew Cornaga / www.photosport.nz

Caleb Clarke’s pursuit for Olympic glory has received a boost as he has been named in an extended All Blacks Sevens squad to play at the Oceania Sevens in Townsville next weekend.

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The New Zealand national side will be joined by the Black Ferns Sevens as they square off against their Australian and Fijian counterparts at Queensland Country Bank Stadium.

The tournament provides the first opportunity for the All Blacks Sevens to play abroad since the outbreak of COVID-19 last March.

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    Clarke was among the stars in New Zealand’s last appearance overseas, their title-winning showing at the 2020 Vancouver Sevens, and the five-test All Blacks star will again feature for the national sevens side in their next international trip.

    It comes after the 22-year-old flourished in his return to the All Blacks Sevens last month as Clark Laidlaw’s mean whitewashed Australia over a six-match series in Auckland.

    Clarke’s inclusion in the 19-man squad is particularly significant given the final 12-man squad to travel to next month’s Tokyo Olympics will be named on June 30, three days after the conclusion of the Oceania Sevens.

    “There were definitely some tight calls with players who have missed out, but we know their time will come and they will be really good players for us in the future,” Laidlaw said of his squad, which also features Chiefs speedster Etene Nanai-Seturo.

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    “We’ve created a lot of competition for places so it’s important we play as well as we can next week and then we can turn our attention to making some tough decisions when it comes to that Olympics squad.”

    Black Ferns head coach Alan Bunting is approaching the upcoming tournament with a similar outlook with an array of stars – such as Portia Woodman, Ruby Tui, Tyla Nathan-Wong, Niall Williams and Michaela Blyde, among others – at his disposal.

    “Playing other teams is important, Fiji will bring something different, and we expect the Australian team to be strong. We’ve been building our foundations for a while so this is about cementing that squad for the Olympics,” he said.

    The Oceania Sevens will kick-off next Friday and will run through until next Sunday.

    All Blacks Sevens squad to play at Oceania Sevens

    Kurt Baker, Caleb Clarke, Dylan Collier, Scott Curry, Sam Dickson, Trael Joass, Andrew Knewstubb, Vilimoni Koroi, Ngarohi McGarvey-Black, Tim Mikkelson, Sione Molia, Etene Nanai-Seturo, Tone Ng Shiu, Amanaki Nicole, Akuila Rokolisoa, William Warbrick, Regan Ware, Joe Webber and Kitiona Vai.

    Black Ferns Sevens squad to play at Ocean Sevens

    Shakira Baker, Michaela Blyde, Kelly Brazier, Gayle Broughton, Dhys Faleafaga, Theresa Fitzpatrick, Stacey Fluhler, Sarah Hirini, Jazmin Hotham, Shiray Kaka, Tyla Nathan-Wong, Risaleaana Pouri-Lane, Alena Saili, Terina Te Tamaki, Ruby Tui, Niall Williams, Tenika Willison and Portia Woodman.

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    J
    JW 20 minutes ago
    Super Rugby Pacific has turned the ship around in the right direction

    LOL thats the same mentality the French saying about the Top 14. Why change their ridiculous comp if its performing well with investors?


    There is always better JWH.


    It depends really what you want out of Super Rugby and NPC. Currently Super Rugby fills both niche’s, it has the up and commers as well as the stars performing at the top. Reducing further obviously improves further on what has been the reason everybody is enjoying this season.


    There is definitely a question of balance and what going further that way removes. But theres a few reasons. What coaches are telling us is it is also a struggle to find the talent to fill out a strong SR side. There is talk of increasing financial constraints. Currently there is a lopsided (random) amount of derby home and away match ups in each conference, so going 5v5 instead of 6v6 may mean we have a full derby round for each conference (currently I think they play just 3 teams twice), or even squeeze in a full dbl round comp. Going a larger number of teams means they need to go much larger to fairer league setup.


    But they need to add or remove JWH, one or the other, and I was merely pointing out that adding, like you’re suggestion, is likely going to introduce just what we all (or at least what the person I was replying to was saying) think the comp has been remedied of, having a weak team. The 5v5 I referenced was 3 Aus teams, with the other two filling the landscape their, and 5 here. That’s what NZR wanted to kick off for the COVID year but ARU threw a hissy fit. If going to 10 is the right thing to do maybe it’s an NZ team that needs to be dropped, so Moana would remain here and Drua continue to be with the aussies, thats the other possible 5 v 5 setup (which would just be 10 if they found a way for all to play even games).

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