The All Blacks Sevens will be showing off plenty of new faces in their long-awaited return to the World Series with five rookies named to travel to Singapore this weekend.
Head coach Clarke Laidlaw named his Singapore Sevens squad on Friday with Sam Dickson captaining the side for the event.
Laidlaw said he and the team were hungry to get back on the competitive circuit after their two-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic and travel restrictions that came with it.
“We’ve had a great couple of weeks in Fiji preparing so it was good to name the team for Singapore, having these new players in the mix brings a real level of excitement.”
The team features a true mix of youth and experience with seven players from the Tokyo Olympic campaign featured alongside the five debutants.
In line for their international sevens debut are Leroy Carter, Moses Leo, Caleb Tangitau, Kitiona Vai and Brady Rush - son of All Blacks Sevens great Eric Rush.
Leo, Vai and Rush have all been part of the sevens programme for a while but Laidlaw said their debuts were delayed by the pandemic.
“They have been with us a couple of years, so they really deserve this opportunity and are ready for it.”
Tangitau on the other hand is fresh to side after only signing with the All Blacks Sevens at the start of the year.
However both he and Carter - a former New Zealand Under 20s player - have impressed Laidlaw in their short time with the squad.
“Caleb has only been with us a couple of months, but he has done really well these last couple of weeks and has genuine pace.
"Leroy is a professional, he’s diligent with his work and can play multiple positions, we’re looking forward to seeing how he goes.”
Dickson has been promoted to captain of the side with regular leaders Tim Mikkelson injured and Scott Curry unavailable this weekend.
Dickson said he had big boots to fill.
“I’ve always looked up to those boys and played a lot of my rugby with them so it’s an honour to be the next one to help lead this team, lucky I’ve got some other good leaders in the team to help me along the way."
While the side won't be able to win this year's series - South Africa already have 88 points on the table after winning the first four events of the season - the squad will get four stops in before the Commonwealth Games in July.
After Singapore, the All Blacks Sevens will play in Vancouver, Toulouse and London.
All Blacks Sevens [*denotes debut]
Leroy Carter*
Dylan Collier
Sam Dickson – captain
Trael Joass
Andrew Knewstubb
Moses Leo*
Tone Ng Shiu
Akuila Rokolisoa*
Brady Rush*
Caleb Tangitau*
Kitiona Vai*
Regan Ware
Joe Webber
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