Trusts Stadium in Henderson is a breeding ground for some adventurous sevens rugby play. The region is filled with Pacific Islands migrants, many who have happily raised families in their adopted home city and brought with them a love for the sevens game to ‘the land of the long white cloud’. It is fitting then that the Oceania Rugby Sevens Olympic Qualifier this weekend will see teams from across the Pacific Islands fight to become eligible to compete on the International stage.
The Oceania tournament is being held over this weekend of 14th and 15th of November in Auckland, New Zealand and this qualifying tournament is one of four worldwide that will occur across all Olympic regions in gaining qualification for this Summers Olympic Games in Rio. Rugby Sevens is competing for the very first time [and Rugby for the first time since 1924] At Trusts Stadium, many world-class sides will display those natural adventurous skills for thousands fans of the game, as Pacific nations converge on Auckland and play for this unique opportunity to represent their country.
The sides that will be competing include many that are on the World Sevens Series, as well as sides who qualify through the regional based Olympic system. The men’s and women’s competition will include teams from:
Men: Australia, Samoa, Tonga, Papua New Guinea, Cook Islands, America Samoa, Nauru, Solomon Islands
Women: Fiji, Samoa, Papua New Guinea, Cook Islands, Tonga
The men will compete in two pools of four teams, with the final matches hopefully showcasing both the open style of Pacifica rugby, but also a concentrated level of play that will be required to reach the highest level of Mens’ teams the like of Fiji, South Africa and New Zealand. Those nations have already met the standard, with Australia and now needing to qualify prior to the World series beginning (and not be concerned with any re-qualification)
The women will be playing too for a position as one of the final 12 teams to compete at Rio de Janeiro, during the games in August of 2016. Every side has so much to play for this weekend, it will be an intense two days for most and the bonus is that this exciting tournament is easily accessible within the most populated Pacific community in the Southern Hemisphere–Auckland.
It is an open challenge for the Women to play for, Fiji especially as the New Zealand ‘sevens Sisters’ and the Australian Pearls have qualified due to last seasons results, so in fact the smaller group this time will create as much attention as the men’s draw. One of five teams can win here, so Samoa and the Cook Islands will have a real opportunity to take one of the 12 spots in Rio.
Olympic qualification
The winning men’s and women’s teams automatically qualify for Rio 2016. The final qualification places for a men’s and women’s team will be contested at a Final Qualification Tournament expected to take place in June next year. The second and third placed men’s and women’s teams from the Oceania Championship will win places to compete in that tournament.
“The added intensity that automatic qualification for Rio adds to this year’s tournaments, together with the unpredictability of recent Oceania Sevens Championships, means we are expecting the most exciting Championship yet,” said William Glenwright, General Manager Asia and Oceania Rugby, World Rugby.
“The Oceania region has a rich and proud tradition of sevens rugby and the fact that four teams have automatically qualified for Rio underscores that.” Sides like Samoa and Tonga will be pushing hard to reach the important final matches in the Cup competition, while Papua and the American Samoan sides will have an outsiders chance but all eyes will likely be on the Australian men’s team.
The recent winners of the Coral Coast Sevens tournament held earlier this month in New South Wales, the Australian Thunderbolts must maximize this primary opportunity to seal a place early. The team that features stars like Cameron Clark and Afa Pakalani, must be outright favourites in their competition. The Womens draw is more open and will see the five teams play each other once and each qualifying side (1st) must then commit to a full International program that culminates on the Olympic stage in a little over 250 days to go.
That commitment to the sport needs to begin this weekend for every competitor and even though many nations already have annual Sevens calendars for their players now; full 12 month of the year contracts must now be fulfilled for a handful of these sides, but this tournament is very much more than just single teams making the Olympics.
All Blacks Sevens in action
It will also be a stage for the local All Blacks Sevens to perform on home soil. Not competing in these rounds due to having already qualified via the World Sevens Series, the host side still wishes to entertain their fan-base so will be involved in some open training sessions and public appearances across the two days. The Scott Curry led team will need to get in some thorough preparations before the November kick-off of an important period in the New Zealand Sevens history.
For many locals, that could mean a chance to see Rugby World Cup final hero Sonny Bill Williams, who has been given the green light along with Liam Messam and Ardie Savea to battle it out for places in the full squad to compete in lead-up tournaments; World Series and opposed training sessions over the next six months. While fans will hunt out Sonny Bill, or even Chiefs team mate Tim Nanai Williams (Samoa) and Henry Speight has been announced as a member of the Thunderbolts Aussie side.
For the NZ residents team, while this is a vital warm-up phase of their long term goal, there maybe a relaxed feel that fans can enjoy now, until they need to put on their ‘gameday faces’ come December. While being the most successful side on the circuit has brought World Series crowns and a number of Commonwealth Games medals, for the coach, captain and this group of players they can now prepare for the opening round of the World Sevens Series–all looking down the road before they arrive in South America.
Without getting too far ahead of myself, they still have further preparations and fortunately (or sadly) even more infamous Gordon Tietjens training sessions to check off before heading to Dubai. Good luck to them all, Last Word On Sports will be in attendance on Saturday in Henderson and looks forward to a feast of sevens rugby.
Both Sky NZ and FoxSports in Australia will be televising both days of the tournament live.
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WORLD RUGBY SEVENS SERIES begins with Round One in Dubai on 4th/5th December, 2016.
Follow all the Sevens Rugby action with our in-depth coverage on Last Word On Sports with Jovilisi Waqa and Scott Hornell.
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