NZ sevens teams named for Las Vegas

TOP CLASS: Bay of Plenty's Kelly Brazier is in the Black Ferns squad for the Las Vegas tournament next week. PHOTO:FILE

Cheyelle Robins-Reti joins the Black Ferns for the first time in an otherwise unchanged and experienced team to play the HSBC World Rugby Women's Sevens Series tournament in Las Vegas next week.

The Black Ferns Sevens lead the points table for the Women's Sevens Series, ahead of Olympic gold medallists Australia who they have defeated in their last two outings.

"Our goals for Las Vegas are consistency and continuity. When the team plays with their heart and smarts, they have proven to be hard to beat. We need to ensure that we bring that focus to every game," said head coach and Rotorua local Allan Bunting.

"We played some outstanding rugby at times in Sydney, but we did struggle to get our game going consistently. It was disappointing we lost the semifinal against the USA, but we learnt a lot from that, and it gave us the chance to play Australia in their home country.

USA will be pumped to be playing in front of their home crowd, but the Black Ferns are looking forward to the challenge.

Sydney reminded the side that they needed to treat each game as a final, Bunting said.

"All countries are now real threats. We will face Australia in pool play in Vegas, but we are focused on game one against Brazil. They are a team that has shown they can really play, beating England in Sydney.

"We are confident that with the right focus we can take our game up another notch and play with greater consistency."

Black Ferns team: Sarah Goss (captain), Michaela Blyde, Kelly Brazier (Bay of Plenty), Theresa Fitzpatrick, Tyla Nathan-Wong, Cheyelle Robins-Reti, Alena Saili, Terina Te Tamaki, Ruby Tui, Kat Whata-Simpkins, Niall Williams, Portia Woodman.

Meanwhile, the New Zealand men's squad to play the fourth leg of the 2016/17 HSBC World Series in Las Vegas and Vancouver sees the return of Ambrose Curtis to an outfit virtually unchanged from the one that finished third in Sydney.

Curtis, who last started for the All Black Sevens in 2015, played for the Maori All Blacks on their Northern Hemisphere Tour at the end of last year and has been on a training contract with the Blues over the summer.

"It's great to have a largely settled squad to take to North America. The new players who debuted in the Wellington and Sydney tournaments have impressed this far, so it's good to keep giving them game time and experience," said coach Scott Waldrom.

"As always with this Sevens Series pool play has its challenges. Russia won the Challenge Trophy in Sydney, Argentina beat us in Wellington and Kenya is always an exciting team to play against. We won't be taking any of the matches for granted. We also face the challenge of a three-day tournament which we haven't had before in this series."

All Blacks Sevens team: Scott Curry (captain, Bay of Plenty), Dylan Collier (Southland), Ambrose Curtis (Manawatu), DJ Forbes (Counties Manukau), Iopu Iopu-Aso (Taranaki), Trael Joass (Tasman), Andrew Knewstubb (Tasman), Vilimoni Koroi (Otago), Tim Mikkelson (Waikato), Sione Molia (Counties Manukau), Tone Ng Shiu (Tasman), Sherwin Stowers (Counties Manukau), Isaac Te Tamaki (Waikato), Beaudein Waaka (Taranaki).