NEW ZEALAND SEVENS TEAMS SET FOR ACTION IN BIRMINGHAM

Sri Lanka will be the New Zealand Men’s Sevens’ opening game at the Commonwealth Games Sevens tournament starting on Friday, while the New Zealand Women’s Sevens will play Canada in their opening game.

The defending champion New Zealand Men’s Sevens’ will play Samoa in their second game on Friday before their key pool game on Saturday against England.

As a result of New Zealand not playing regularly in the HSBC World Sevens series due to Covid, they rank below England in the standings for the tournament.

England player Tom Bowen said it was tough being in the same pool as New Zealand and Samoa but said England’s view was, “If you want to do well you’ve got to beat the best teams, so there’s no time like starting in the pool stages.

“We’ve got a really tough pool with Samoa to begin with. Two of those are going to be pretty big games. We will put our best foot forward but sevens is one of those sports where if you live in every moment, you give yourself the capability of winning,” he said.

“We’ve had a really good season so far, a bunch of young boys have come together and built throughout the year, and I think we’re going to enjoy ourselves and really embrace the challenge that has been put in front of us.”

One of the best, back in The Bay 🤙🏽

Awesome for our #BlackFerns7s back home to see @RealStevenAdams around HQ this week. pic.twitter.com/efEhgPYeGb

— NZ Sevens (@nz_sevens) July 20, 2022

The New Zealand Women’s Sevens will play Sri Lanka in their second game on Friday, while they will also play England in the tournament’s third session on Saturday.

England back Celia Quansah is returning after an injury for the tournament and said there was fresh energy in the side from new players who have come into the side in the last six months.

“We’ve played New Zealand in the Olympics last year and always meet them in the World Series, so we feel pretty confident playing against them. It’ll be who turns up on the day, and the same with Canada,” she said.

With only eight teams in the women’s section semifinals will be played in the second Saturday session, while the men will be playing their quarterfinals.

The finals will be played around 8 am (NZT) on Monday.

England, Wales and Scotland are playing as individual countries during the tournament and at the later Sevens World Cup but will combine for next season’s HSBC World Sevens tournaments.