For the first time New Zealand will sending a NZ Tertiary Women’s Seven’s team to compete at the FISU World University Rugby Sevens Championships, 6-9 July 2016.
Full squad: New Zealand Tertiary Women’s Sevens Team
1. Savannah Purcell, AUT
2. Briar-Anne McNamara, AUT
3. Ilacy Tomu, Waikato University
4. Joanah Ngan-Woo, Victoria University
5. Sauimoana Solia, Victoria University
6. Lizzie Goulden, Victoria University
7. Georgia Daals, Victoria University
8. Holly McDonald, Victoria University
9. Shantelle Peters, University of Auckland
10. Rebecca Davidson, Lincoln University
11. Ruby Finau, Massey University
12. Amanda Rasch, Massey University
Hosted by Swansea University and British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) the 7th World University Championship competition will welcome 20 rugby sevens teams, 10 male and 10 female, from 16 nations and will take place at the world class Swansea University International Sports Village.
Lining up will be teams from Fiji, Samoa, Italy, France, Spain and Great Britain but it will be the first time New Zealand, Australia and Argentina have participated in the championships.
Proudly sponsored by Mortgage Link and Insurance Link NZ, the New Zealand Tertiary Women’s team includes a squad of 12 players representing seven New Zealand Universities, with Victoria University providing five key players.
Among the selected women are New Zealand women’s sevens development and Wellington Pride 7s players Georgia Daals, (Victoria University) and Amanda Rasch (Massey University) who have just competed in Hong Kong against the Hong Kong national team and won. Along with co team member Lizzie Goulden (Victoria University), both Georgia and Amanda are also part of the wider NZ Black Ferns 15s squad so the level of talent within the team is exceptional.
The tournament pool draws took place on 2 June and despite avoiding world champions Canada in their pool, New Zealand will have to negotiate challenging games against Great Britain and France to progress to the competition’s finals.
“I’m really excited about playing other countries and seeing what the sevens talent is like around the world. All of us are fizzing to try and win that first place gold medal” says Georgia Daals.
Hoping to guide the women to the gold medal is Coach, Zak Feaunati. “We are very excited and can’t wait to get to the tournament because it’s a chance for the girls to showcase their talent at international level”.
Participation at the World University Championship event is part of the competitive, high performance programme of events facilitated through University and Tertiary Sport New Zealand, the new entity for tertiary sport in New Zealand established at the beginning of this year by University Vice Chancellors.
Further details of the WUC Sevens event can be found here http://wucrugby2016.com/
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