Mount sevens player makes Samoan team

STEPPING UP: Mount Maunganui's Danny Kayes will play for Samoa at the HSBC World Series sevens tournaments in Las Vegas and Vancouver. PHOTO: FILE

Playing international sevens rugby has been a long cherished goal for Danny Kayes.

It was just a question whether it would be in a black or a blue jersey.

The 21-year-old from Mount Maunganui now has his answer after Sir Gordon Tietjens selected him in the Samoan team for the next two legs of the HSBC World Series in Las Vegas and Vancouver.

"It is an absolute honour to play for them and I am really excited to play for them. The culture is different and I looking forward to it. It will be an awesome experience," Kayes said.

His biggest challenge is learning to communicate with his team-mates who speak Samoan.

"I understand a little bit of Samoan but I don't speak any. It is very hard to communicate on a social level and on a game level. There are always ways around that. It is learning curve.

"But there is a good mix of New Zealand-based and Samoan-based players in the team so a lot of guys speak English."

Tietjens first saw Kayes play when he was in the Mount Maunganui College First XV coached by his son Paul and has kept close tabs on his progress playing for Bay of Plenty.

Kayes trained with the All Blacks Sevens at training camps at Mount Maunganui so has been on Tietjens' radar in recent years.

"[Samoa] struggle in New Zealand to get elite players because New Zealand [Rugby] have first crack at anyone that has got a Samoan connection," Tietjens said.

"I didn't actually know until later on that Danny has a Samoan mum which makes him eligible. So I went to the Bay of Plenty tournament they played out at Eastern Districts early this year and asked him if he was keen to have a crack for Samoa and he was.

"I offered him a chance to play for Samoa and he latched on to it. He played in the Marist Tournament over there for Viala and played well and did enough to be selected in the 14.

"He has been staying at the High Performance Unit over there and working hard in challenging conditions which is what Samoa is all about.

"He has a chance to really excel now. In the future he can play more World Series tournaments if he performs and of course there is a Comms [Commonwealth] Games next year as well.

"He is playing hooker for me. He is fast and has some good skills. He is very accurate in what he does, he makes a lot of tackles, is very smart with the ball in hand. He is also a very good worker in making a tackle and quick to get on his feet.

"[Manu Samoa coach] Alama Ieremia might be interested so it makes him available for the bigger stage in fifteens if he wants to go down that path."

An off-field challenge for Kayes is balancing his work and sevens commitments.

He is a civil engineer with Fulton Hogan Bay of Plenty and is grateful to the firm for the opportunity they have given him to pursue his rugby dreams.

"They have played a massive role and my bosses have been awesome giving me time off work. It is quite hard to balance it and they have been great."