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Trio of All Blacks Sevens greats call time on iconic international careers

(Photo by Anthony Au-Yeung/Getty Images)

New Zealand Sevens made a significant announcement on Friday, revealing that three of the most decorated players in All Blacks Sevens history have hung up their boots. Tim Mikkelson, Scott Curry and Sam Dickson have called time on their illustrious sevens careers.

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Before the new HSBC SVNS Series season gets underway in Dubai from November 30 to December 1, the All Blacks Sevens have bid farewell to three icons of the sport, with the team now preparing for life without some heroes from years gone by.

Mikkelson, Curry and Dickson are all part of an exclusive rugby sevens club. There aren’t many men or women who have achieved that the trio have, considering they’ve won overall titles on the now-called SVNS Series, at the Sevens World Cup, and Commonwealth Games.

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All three have also captained the All Blacks Sevens.

In an interview with RugbyPass in May 2023, Dickson was in awe of Mikkelson ahead of the veteran’s 100th tournament. From a hotel room in Toulouse, Dickson wore a ‘Tim Mikkelson 100’ t-shirt in a special effort to truly celebrate the incredible milestone.

To this day, Mikkelson is the only New Zealand Sevens player to represent the nation at 100 sevens tournaments. The 38-year-old made 104 appearances – which is the second-most out of any player in sevens history – and is the fourth-highest try-scorer of all time.

Curry leaves the sport as one of the world’s best forwards, which included inspiring performances on last season’s SVNS Series and at the Paris Olympics. As a long-serving captain of the team, Curry bows out as a world-class talent, having 71 caps to his name.

Then there’s Dickson. The former New Zealand AFL representative was the most recent of the trio to captain the team – which is just one highlight to speak of. Dickson played 77 tournaments in the black jersey, which included three Commonwealth Games and three Sevens World Cups.

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“Scott, Tim and Sam have all made a significant contribution on and off the field to the All Blacks Sevens during their tenure. They have left an incredible mark on the game and have added to the legacy of the All Blacks Sevens,” New Zealand Rugby’s Head of Men’s High Performance, Mike Anthony, said in a statement.

 

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“The success they have had in the black jersey is a credit to their leadership, work ethic and dedication to the game. On behalf of New Zealand Rugby, I want to thank them for their incredible service and wish them well for their future endeavours.”

Dickson has confirmed that he’s retired from all rugby, but it’s not the same story for the other two as of yet.

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Mikkelson and Curry are only stepping away from the professional game at this stage.

Without the likes of Mikkelson, Curry, Dickson, Che Clark (Blues), Leroy Carter (Chiefs) and Fehi Fineanganofo (Hurricanes), this feels like the dawn of a new era for the All Blacks Sevens as they look ahead to Dubai and Cape Town to start the season.

HSBC SVNS Perth takes place on 24-26 January at HBF Park. Plan your ultimate rugby weekend in Western Australia with the help of flexible travel packages including tickets and accommodation. Buy Now or Find Out More.  

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SadersMan 13 days ago

As expected. They should've gone last cycle & left the Olympic trial lead-in period to the younger guys. Cleared the way instead of jamming the road. It's hard to compete with the mana of three legends past their prime. Still, well done on stellar careers, to all three.

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JW 2 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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