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‘No fear’: Sevens great believes New Zealand can ‘peak’ at Olympics
By Finn Morton
All Blacks Sevens great Karl Te Nana believes the New Zealand men’s team have likely timed their run perfectly leading into the Olympics as they look to win a gold medal at the Games for the first time in three attempts.
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New Zealand has won two medals in rugby sevens history but both of those accomplishments were achieved by the women’s side. As for the men, they fell to a poor finish at the 2016 Rio Games before walking away with silver in Tokyo.
But with only three years between that postponed tournament at Tokyo Stadium and this year’s iteration at the world-famous Stade de France, the New Zealanders haven’t had to wait as long for another shot at Olympic glory.
For the last 12 months or so, if not longer, the best teams in international rugby sevens have looked to learn some lessons with a target of peaking at the Games. While winning is always a focus, the prospect of challenging for a medal in Paris has been a big motivator.
On the SVNS Series, the All Blacks Sevens were actually quite poor to start the season. They finished third in Dubai and made the quarter-finals in Cape Town, but ended up finishing in the bottom four in Perth and Los Angeles.
But after taking out Cup Final glory in both Hong Kong China and Singapore, the New Zealanders have seemed to use those successes as a “launching point.” They’ve played with more confidence and looked like a genuine contender at the Series’ Grand Final last month.
“They really had to stick to a plan,” Te Nana told SENZ Mornings earlier this week. “They knew that they needed a good mix, amongst the group, so there’s a lot of more senior blokes that were coming back into the fold. They had to give them time during the Series to get back up to speed.
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“A number of them had a couple of niggles and a lot of the young blokes stepped up. New Zealand lose a few of the tournament earlier on, but those guys got time in the saddle and came good the second part of the Series.
“Hong Kong was the launching point for the men’s program to start leading up to the Olympics, and from there they were pretty much unbeatable.
“We’ve already seen in past tournaments such as Commonwealth Games and the like that they can really peak at these major tournaments. I think they’re probably hitting their form right at the perk end of the year.”
Scott Curry and Regan Ware have been named to represent New Zealand at their third Olympic Games, while another six members of the playing squad are off to the biggest sports event in the world for the second time.
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World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year nominees Leroy Carter and Akuila Rokolisoa both made an Olympic team for the first time, as did Tepaea Cook-Savage, Fehi Fineanganofo and Moses Leo.
But there were some surprise omissions.
Veterans Sione Molia, Joe Webber and Tim Mikkelson were only named as travelling reserves, while former captain Sam Dickson and exciting prospect Cody Vai missed out on going to France at all.
“He’s gone with form,” Te Nana explained. “He’s gone with these young blokes who had a couple of teething problems.
“Fehi Fineanganofo has dropped 15kg, and he’s a monster now. So that’s just come through game time. He’s probably taken Tim’s (Mikkelson) spot.
“These young bokes are now playing with confidence and no fear, and we know what these other guys can do if they’re able to come in.
“I think he’s got the forward pack that can lay the platform and he’s also got these young guys, who are exciting.
“Tepaea Cook-Savage is another guy who I think turned into their playmaker role. He’s probably taken Akuila Rokolisoa out of the starting lineup.”
New Zealand started their quest for Olympic glory with opening day wins over South Africa and Japan. They’ll be looking to keep their unbeaten streak alive on day two when they take on Ireland – the foe they played in the Singapore Cup Final a few months ago.
