The Wellington Sevens is just a month and a half away, and the arrival of Sonny Bill Williams onto the scene for the All Black Sevens will be of interest to all New Zealand rugby fans.
Media commentators are predicting that the 2016 Wellington Sevens will attract a larger crowd than the last two years, acting as not only the big debut of one particular player, but also the continuation of Rio’s dress rehearsal.
Sonny Bill will headline the tournament this year, and his debut to Rugby Sevens brings a much-needed boost in interest to the Wellington tournament after a few years of poor ticket sales.
The Wellington Sevens was once one of the biggest weekends on NZ’s sporting calendar, but since the NRL introduced the ‘Nines event’ up the other end of the North Island in Auckland, ticket sales for the Sevens held at Westpac Regional Stadium have been poor over the last couple of years.
Simply, the Wellington Sevens hasn’t matched the popularity of the NRL Nines, but the quality of rugby can’t be blamed. The quality of Sevens rugby on show has been of the highest order and the All Black Sevens (the home nation) has been victorious back-to-back since 2014.
There is reason enough for fans to flock to Wellington this January because it will be the last time that the squad plays at home before debuting at the Rio Olympics later in the year. Attention on the All Black Sevens is going to be more intense than ever during Olympic year, and when SBW laces up the boots an added expectation will be set.
Liam Messam will likely be unavailable for Wellington as his stint in Japan’s Top League ends just a week before the tournament, but superstars SBW and The Hurricanes favourite son Ardie Savea are both set to make their debuts for the All Black Sevens at the tournament.
Augustine Pulu makes his debut at the CapeTown Sevens this weekend and will have to come up to speed in the Sevens outfit by January.
Add in the talent of DJ Forbes, Joe Webber, and Declan O’Donnell, and the All Black Sevens will field their most star studded side ever during the Wellington leg of the HSBC Sevens World Series.
The World Series hasn’t got off to the best start though, New Zealand crashed out of the Dubai leg at the semi final stage last weekend and currently sit fourth on the table. But it is early stages, and New Zealand have traditionally been slow starters, so there is no need to rush in the ‘big guns’ too soon.
“Main photo”
