Wikipedia

New Zealand national rugby sevens team

(Redirected from New Zealand national rugby union team (sevens))
This article is about the men's team. For the women's team, see New Zealand women's national rugby sevens team.

The New Zealand national rugby sevens team competes in the World Rugby Sevens Series, Rugby World Cup Sevens, Summer Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games. They have won a record 14 World Rugby Sevens Series titles.

New Zealand
Shirt badge/Association crest
NicknameAll Blacks Sevens
EmblemSilver Fern
UnionNew Zealand Rugby Union
Head coachTomasi Cama
Top scorerTomasi Cama (2,028)
Top try scorerTim Mikkelson (240)
Home stadiumWaikato Stadium
First colours
Second colours
First international
 New Zealand 18–22  Ireland
(7 April 1973)
Rugby World Cup Sevens
Appearances8 (First in 1993)
Best resultChampions (2001, 2013, 2018)
Websitehttps://www.allblacks.com/teams/all-blacks-sevens/
New Zealand national rugby sevens team at the 2009 Hong Kong Sevens

The team played for the first time at the 1973 International Seven-A-Side Tournament.

History

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World Sevens Series

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The All Blacks Sevens have won 14 of the 24 World Rugby Sevens Series, and have been the most successful team in the history of the world series. They won the first six series between 1999–2004, before placing 4th in the 2005 series, and then later winning back to back series again in the 2006–2007 seasons. In 2008, the team placed 4th for the second time, and were runners-up for the first ever time in 2009. In the years of 2010–2013, the All Blacks Sevens had another period of success by winning all 4 of those series, before going onto have 5 straight seasons without winning a series between 2014–2018, which saw them come in 3rd place a total of 4 times and placed 4th once, which is also the third time that they have placed 4th in a world series. In 2019, the team won its first series again since 2013, and it was followed by a Covid-19 disrupted 2020–21 season, which was then followed by a disappointing 2021–22 series, that saw them come in 8th place, which was the lowest that the team has ever placed in any of the World Sevens Series. The team won its 14th World Series title on the 13th of May 2023, wrapping up the 2022–23 season, after beating France in the semi finals of the Toulouse tournament, and wrapping up the series due to a points difference gap being greater than the 2nd placed Argentina side. The All Blacks Sevens finished in 4th place in the 2023–24 season after the Madrid, Spain Grand Final (Winner takes all) tournament.

Summer Olympic Games

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The All Blacks Sevens have played in 3 tournaments at the Summer Olympics, but have failed to obtain a Gold Medal from all 3 competitions. In 2016, they were eliminated in the quarter-finals by Fiji before finishing in 5th place by beating Argentina (17–14) in the 5th place final. In 2020, they improved from the previous tournament and made it to the Grand Final but they were beaten by Fiji once again by (12–27). This caused them to finish the tournament in 2nd place after losing the final. In 2024, The All Blacks Sevens failed again to obtain a Gold Medal at the Olympics after losing to South Africa in the quarter-finals (7–14), and finishing in 5th place after defeating Ireland (17–7) in the 5th place final.

Rugby World Cup Sevens

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New Zealand have won 3 Sevens Rugby World Cups. Their first appearance was in the 1993 tournament which was held in Scotland. They were knocked out in the quarter-finals by the eventual winners England (12–21) before finishing in 7th place. In 1997, they placed 3rd after they were beaten in the semi-finals by South Africa (7–31). In 2001, they won their first World Cup by beating Australia (31–12), and would also make the final again in 2005 but went on to lose to Fiji (19–29). In 2009, they lost to Wales in the quarter-finals (14–15) and would finish in 5th place. They then would go on to win the next two World Cups in 2013 and 2018 by beating England in both tournaments (33–0) and (33–12), to become the first team in history to go back to back in consecutive tournaments. In 2022, they lost to Fiji in the final once again by (12–27), and finished runners-up for the second time in their World Cup history.

Commonwealth Games

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New Zealand have found the most success in the Commonwealth Games Sevens Series by winning 5 out of the 7 Tournaments. They won in 1998 by beating Fiji in the final (21–12), won in 2002 by winning against Fiji again (33–15), beat England in the 2006 Final (29–21), before beating Australia in the final in 2010 (24–17) and would go on to beat Fiji for the 3rd consecutive time in the final (14–0). In 2014, they were runners-up after losing to England (12–17) in the final and came in 3rd place after losing to Fiji (14–19) in the semi-finals in the 2022 tournament.

Oceania Sevens

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The All Blacks sevens have been the Oceania Sevens Champions twice. In 2022 after having the best round-robin record of (5–1), they secured the title. In 2023, they retained their title after defeating Samoa (24–19) in the Final. They have been runners-up 4 times, the first being in 2014 by losing to Fiji in the final (5–21), the second time was in 2017 when they lost to Fiji again in the final (0–26), the third time was in 2018, when they lost to Fiji again for the 3rd straight final (12–17), and the 4th time would be by having the 2nd best round-robin record in 2021 (4–2), behind Fiji who had a better record (6–0), and they would also finish the 2019 competition in 7th place.

Records

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Main article: World Rugby Sevens Series

World Sevens Series

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New Zealand have won the World Rugby Sevens Series a record 14 times. New Zealand were particularly dominant in the early years of the Series, winning the first six series.

Season Position
1999–2000 1st
2000–01 1st
2001–02 1st
2002–03 1st
2003–04 1st
2004–05 1st
2005–06 4th
2006–07 1st
2007–08 1st
2008–09 4th
2009–10 2nd
2010–11 1st
2011–12 1st
2012–13 1st
2013–14 1st
2014–15 3rd
2015–16 3rd
2016–17 4th
2017–18 3rd
2018–19 3rd
2019–20 1st
2021 DNP
2021–22 8th
2022–23 1st
2023–24 4th
Total 14 Titles

Summer Olympic Games

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New Zealand have competed in three Summer Olympics Sevens Tournaments. Their best result is achieving a Silver medal in the 2020 tournament.

Rugby World Cup Sevens

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New Zealand is tied with Fiji for the most Rugby Sevens World Cups with each team having 3 titles.

Year Round Position Pld W L D
  1993 Quarterfinals 7th 8 6 2 0
  1997 Semifinals 3rd 4 3 1 0
  2001 Final 1st 8 8 0 0
  2005 Final 2nd 8 7 1 0
  2009 Quarterfinals 5th 4 3 1 0
  2013 Final 1st 6 6 0 0
  2018 Final 1st 4 4 0 0
  2022 Final 2nd 4 3 1 0
Total 3 Titles 8/8 46 40 6 0

Commonwealth Games

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New Zealand is the most successful rugby sevens team at the Commonwealth Games. They have won five of the seven Commonwealth Games tournaments so far, and have finished second once. The team have only lost 2 matches at the Commonwealth Games, losing to South Africa in the final of the 2014 tournament and losing to Fiji in the semi-finals in the 2022 tournament.

Year Round Position Pld W L D
  1998 Finals 1st 6 6 0 0
  2002 Finals 1st 6 6 0 0
  2006 Finals 1st 6 6 0 0
  2010 Finals 1st 6 6 0 0
  2014 Finals 2nd 6 5 1 0
  2018 Finals 1st 5 5 0 0
  2022 Bronze Final 3rd 6 5 1 0
Total 5 Titles 7/7 41 39 2 0

Oceania Sevens

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New Zealand have won the Oceania Sevens twice, while they have been runners-up 4 times and also came in 7th place in the 2019 tournament.

Year Round Position
  2008 Did not compete
  2009
  2010
  2011
  2012
  2013
  2014 Finals 2nd
  2015 Did not compete
  2016
  2017 Finals 2nd
  2018 Finals 2nd
  2019 7th Place Final 7th
  2021 Round-robin 2nd
  2022 Round-robin 1st
  2023 Finals 1st
Total 2 Titles 7/15

Players

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Current Squad

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On 20 June, the squad was named for the 2024 Paris Olympic Sevens tournament in France.

Travelling Reserves: Tim Mikkelson, Sione Molia, and Joe Webber.

Squad updated to: 20 June 2024

Player Position Date of birth (age) Caps Club/province
Scott Curry Forward (1988-05-17) 17 May 1988 (age 36) 299 Unattached
Brady Rush Forward (1999-04-24) 24 April 1999 (age 25) 118 Northland
Leroy Carter Back (1999-02-24) 24 February 1999 (age 25) 109 Bay of Plenty
Tepaea Cook-Savage Back (2001-02-08) 8 February 2001 (age 23) 70 Waikato
Moses Leo Back (1997-08-11) 11 August 1997 (age 27) 79 North Harbour
Akuila Rokolisoa Back (1995-07-26) 26 July 1995 (age 29) 167 Unattached
Ngarohi McGarvey-Black Back (1996-05-20) 20 May 1996 (age 28) 145 Bay of Plenty
Regan Ware Back (1994-08-07) 7 August 1994 (age 30) 280 Unattached
Dylan Collier Back (1991-04-27) 27 April 1991 (age 33) 306 Waikato
Andrew Knewstubb Back (1995-09-14) 14 September 1995 (age 29) 161 Unattached
Tone Ng Shiu Back (1994-05-26) 26 May 1994 (age 30) 195 Unattached
Fehi Fineanganofo Back (2002-08-31) 31 August 2002 (age 22) 46 Bay of Plenty

Records and statistics

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Player records

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The following shows leading career New Zealand players based on performance in the World Rugby Sevens Series. Players in bold are still active.

Awards

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Main article: World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year

Several New Zealand players have won or been nominated for the World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year award. The following table shows the players who have been nominated for the award at least twice and won the award at least once.

World Rugby Player of the Year
Player Wins Nominations
Tim Mikkelson 1 (2013) 3 (2011, 2013, 2014)
Tomasi Cama Jr. 1 (2012) 2 (2011, 2012)
DJ Forbes 1 (2008) 2 (2007, 2008)
Afeleke Pelenise 1 (2007) 1 (2007)
Orene Ai'i 1 (2005) 1 (2005)
Scott Curry 0 1 (2021)
Frank Halai 0 1 (2012)
Amasio Valence 0 1 (2005)

Coaches

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Past coaches

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Name Years
Gordon Tietjens 1994–2016

See also

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References

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