Vegas 7s: New Zealand To Keep ‘Winning Culture’
Series leaders New Zealand will be out to win this weekend’s USA 7s in Las Vegas and next week’s Canada 7s in Vancouver.
Fresh from winning the Sydney 7s, and topping the World Series rankings on points differential, coach Clark Laidlaw said the next two weeks will be crucial for their Olympic qualification hopes.
“We are really happy with how we’ve played but we are realistic that there is a lot of rugby to come,” Laidlaw told Voxy.com.nz.
“These two weeks will have a big bearing on the top four, we need to put our heads down, roll up our sleeves and really push hard for those semi-finals and finals again.”
The Kiwis have named four Fijians – Vilimoni Koroi, Joe Ravouvou, Jona Nareki and Akuila Rokolisoa.
This year marks the 10th Las Vegas tournament, where the All Blacks 7s have finished runners-up on five occasions and will be looking to go one better this weekend.
“Last year we were preparing for Commonwealth Games and didn’t have Las Vegas as a focus.
“This year we came slightly early to help with the time difference and to get settled so hopefully that can get us on the front foot and set us up for a good week of training.” said Laidlaw.
Following the Las Vegas tournament the team will travel to Vancouver for the Canada 7s, which is held the following weekend.
Edited by Grace Narayan
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