Manawatu travels with five regulars January 18, 2010
Just five of the players who represented Manawatu at the national rugby sevens in Queenstown will be flying out to the Fiji International Sevens in Suva tomorrow.
The unavailability of players means Coach Paul Claridge has had an unexpectedly high turnover. From Queenstown, only Bertus Mulder, Brendan Clare, Frank Afeaki, Karl Bryson and Daniel Smith will board the Air Pacific Boeing 767 at Auckland tomorrow.
Claridge has also brought in five men to beef up the squad against what is expected to be rugged Fijian opposition at the Digicel Suva Rugby Festival in Suva.
Unavailable for family reasons are Wanganui fullback Asaeli Tikoirotuma and Canterbury's Craig De Goldi. James Solomon is out because of work and Linton Army soldiers Lloyd Carter and Adrian Curry have been ruled out by the New Zealand Defence Force.
Committed to the New Zealand sevens camps are Junior Tomasi Cama, Lote Raikabula and Kurt Baker.
Mulder is the only Turbos player in the 12-man team, but Daniel Smith, halfback Karl Bryson and Mike Rowe are from the Manawatu Development side.
Mulder and loose forward Afeaki will be the big ball-winners. Afeaki was with Claridge's New Zealand Legends side at the Sri Lanka Sevens and came in after Turbo Brent Thompson pulled out of the Manawatu sevens squad when signed up by the Hurricanes.
Bay of Plenty's playmaker when they were runnersup in the national sevens final at Queenstown, Matt Hodson, joins the team. He has been on the fringes of New Zealand sides while former Wellingtonian and New Zealand rep Nigel Hunt joins Manawatu – he has been training in Wellington with Raikabula. Also travelling is Wanganui forward Lasa Ulukata.
Claridge has been watching Horowhenua-Kapiti wing Michael Tambour and has brought him in from the neighbouring union to add speed.
Former Manawatu and Northland NPC player Mike Rowe didn't make the squad for Queenstown, but has been picked for his speed as has wing Paul Tietjens.
However, Tietjens, son of national coach Gordon, is still affected by a hip flexor strain he suffered in Sri Lanka and a late call will be made on his fitness.
The development player on the trip is Palmerston North Boys' High School player Rob Thompson, brother of Turbos first-five Isaac.
All of the pools are tough, but Manawatu will strike one of the hardest first up, the host team Suva at 6.23pm on Thursday. Then come Papua New Guinea and Fijian side, Wardens, on Friday, before the playoffs on Saturday.
The players are paying only for their return flights to Auckland. Fundraising was done to pay for extra management staff, and Feilding's former Fijian international, Paula Maisiri, is paying his own way to be the team's liaison officer.
Manawatu team: Bertus Mulder (Kia Toa), Brendan Clare (Feilding), Frank Afeaki (North Harbour), Karl Bryson (College OB), Matt Hodson (Bay of Plenty), Mike Rowe (Kia Toa), Paul Tietjens (Kia Toa), Rob Thompson (PNBHS), Michael Tambour (Horowhenua-Kapiti), Nigel Hunt (Bay of Plenty), Daniel Smith (Feilding), Lasa Ulukata (Wanganui).
Management: Paul Claridge, Stu Ross, Mike Dravitski, Scott Pinfold (trainer), Paula Maisiri.
News on
RSS 
