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‘The ultimate athlete’: Former sprint champ set to debut at Dubai SVNS

Kaitlin Shave poses during an Australian Women's Rugby Sevens Portrait Session on November 20, 2023 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Brett Hemmings/Getty Images for Rugby Australia)

Looking to take out Cup final glory in the opening round of the new-look SVNS Series, the Australian women’s sevens team are set to unleash a former high school sprint star in Dubai this weekend.

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Kaitlin Shave will wear the No. 8 jersey at The Sevens Stadium on Saturday and Sunday after being named to debut as part of a star-studded Australia squad.

Shave was the standout during the AON Next Gen Sevens earlier this year, with the Queenslander crossing for 19 tries in just 12 appearances – clearly, the 22-year-old was destined for more.

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With co-captain Demi Hayes and veteran Sharni Williams missing out on last season’s leg in Vancouver with injuries, it seemed that Shave would debut on the Series.

But the speedster was made to wait a bit longer.

With the new-look SVNS Series upon the rugby world, Aussie Madison Ashby – who was named as one of our seven players to watch this season – hyped up Shave’s limitless potential in sevens.

“Australia produces some of the best wingers and she has unreal speed,” Ashby told Nine’s Wide World of Sports earlier this month. “I feel like this season she will get a good shot and mark her name on the World Series.

“Australia produces very good wingers, like Maddi Levi and Faith Nathan, and I think under their learning she will get into the ultimate athlete and learn a lot off them.”

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The rest of the squad for the Dubai SVNS is full of international superstars. Led by Olympic gold medallist Charlotte Caslick, the Aussies are coming for it all in 2023/24.

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Record-breaking try-scorer Maddison Levi will look to continue her rapid rise after a historic season last time around, and she’ll be joined by sister Teagan Levi in the playing group.

Rising stars Faith Nathan and Bienne Terita are another two players to watch as Australia looks to claim their first series title since Dubai last year.

“The program has spent the best part of preseason training and playing around the world. The objective being to play more rugby, increase player and team rugby IQ, resilience, positional depth and team combination,” coach Tim Walsh said in a statement.

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“Tom Carter has challenged and physically extended the team to an elite level, whilst consistently having 85% of the squad at full training capacity. We also have the full squad available for selection and welcome Kaitlin Shave who will make her long-awaited debut with the Australian team.

“We are very fortunate to have experienced players in Charlotte Caslick and Sharni Smale leading the team during such an intense Olympic season – both have navigated the challenges of such seasons, and they know what to expect. Sevens continues to go from strength to strength and, in an Olympic year, the launch of the invigorated new format will only enhance the entertainment spectacle and world-class product the HSBC World Sevens Series delivers.”

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AM 45 minutes ago
'Freelancer' Izaia Perese shows the need for true inclusivity in Australian rugby

That's Cron's job though. Australia has had one of the most penalised scrums in international rugby for a long time. Just look at the scrum win loss percentage and scrum penalties. That is your evidence. AA has been the starter during that period. Pretty simple analysis. That Australia has had a poor scrum for a long time is hardly news. If bell and thor are not on the field they are woeful. So you are just plain wrong. They have very little time for the lions so doing the same old things that dont work is not going to get them there.


Ainsley is better than our next best tighthead options and has been playing well at scrum time for Lyon in the most competitive comp in the world. Superstar player? No. But better than the next best options. So that is a good enough guide. The scrummaging in the Prem is pretty good too so there is Sio's proof. Same analysis for him. Certainly better in both cases than Super, where the brumbies had the worst win loss and scrum pen in Super. Who plays there? Ohh yes... And the level of scrummaging in Super is well below the URC, prem and France with the SA teams out.


Nongorr is truly woeful. He's 130kg and gets shoved about. That just should not be happening at that weight for a specialist prop who has always played rugby cf pone with leauge. He has had enough time to develop at 23. You'd be better off with Pone who is at least good around the field for the moment and sending Nongorr on exchange to France or England to see if they can improve him with better coaching as happened with Skelton and Meafou. He isn't going to develop in time in super if he has it at all.


Latu is a better scrummaging hooker than BPA and Nasser. and he's the best aussie player over the ball at ruck time. McReight's super jackling percentage hasnt converted to international level but latu consistently does it at heniken level, which is similar to test level in the big games. With good coaching at La Rochelle he's much improved though still has the odd shocker. He should start the November games.

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