Trio off to Fiji for Coral Coast Sevens

surging in sevens: Renee Holmes, who played for the Surge team at the Ignite7 event last year, was named one of the most valuable players at the sevens tournament. Picture supplied

THREE women from Gisborne will be part of a New Zealand-based rugby sevens side competing at a tournament in Fiji next week.

Renee Holmes, Kaipo Olsen-Baker and Jade Stacey will play for the Rugby Vault International side at the Coral Coast Sevens.

Gisborne-based sports agent Luke Bradley is managing the team.

Twelve teams are entered in the women's section of the tournament, including several from Fiji and a Sydney side.

The women are to play on Thursday and Friday next week.

Stacey is a fitness instructor at the YMCA in Gisborne and has a background in hockey and netball.

Bradley said she was new to rugby but had speed to burn.

Holmes, a former Gisborne Girls' High School student, had an outstanding 2019 in 15s and sevens.

She was named the Waikato women's player of the year after their 15s season in the Farah Palmer Cup and was on the field for every minute of their campaign, playing at first five-eighth, halfback and fullback.

Holmes also shone at the Ignite7 event in November. She was one of three women selected from that tournament for a development camp for the national sevens squad.

Olsen-Baker was raised in Gisborne and played as a loose forward for the Manawatu Cyclones in the Farah Palmer Cup last year.

Bradley is the Poverty Bay women's sevens and under-18 15s coach.

He had David Mays as his assistant for the Poverty Bay women's sevens team last year and they will work together again but in different roles.

Mays, head coach of the Rugby Vault side, invited Bradley to be part of the management team for the tournament in Fiji.

Bradley is running training sessions in Gisborne this week and has invited local players to join in with the elite group.

The final practices are at the Oval today and Friday from 5.30pm.

“Coral Coast Sevens is a great chance for our players to further develop their game,” Bradley said.

“The trainings here are also an opportunity for players here to work with athletes at an elite level.”

Bradley is set to manage the Ngati Porou East Coast rugby team in the Heartland Championship this year, alongside new coach Hosea Gear.

The sevens assignment would be a helpful stepping stone into that role, he said.

The Coral Coast tournament is in its 10th year.

Rugby Vault is described on Facebook as an interactive rugby system created to support athletes through individualised programmes.

Results are fed back to club coaches.

The New Zealand side are due to fly to Fiji on Monday.

Rugby Vault International team: Leah Wilson, Chrysler Wineti, Nadia Flavell, Tyra Begbie, Renee Holmes, Sally Kurei, Jade Stacey, Manaia Nuku, Kaipo Olsen-Baker, Ruby Tawa, He'lena Dou'ble, Marina Beazley, Montana Heslop.