Hawke's Bay has received the ideal form of consolation for a dismal showing at the national Sevens tournament in Rotorua this month.
Co-captain of the second seeded Aerospread Ltd Hawke's Bay team which lost 17-10 to Northland in the Bowl final and finished the weekend with three wins and threelosses, Billy Ropiha, has been named in a 22-strong All Black Sevens squad to prepare for the World Series Wellington Sevens tournament on January 30 and 31.
Ropiha, 25, is one of three newcomers to the squad. Counties-Manukau's Josh Van Lieshout and Sione Molia are the others. The 12-strong team for the third leg of the series will be named on Monday.
Former Magpie, Gillies Kaka, a regular All Black Sevens player since 2013 has predictably made the 22 after recovering from a recent injury. While it will be a surprise if Ropiha makes the cut after just three days with the squad, Kaka should get the thumbs up from Gordon Tietjens.
Kaka's first tournament with the All Black Sevens was the 2013 edition of the Wellington tournament.
Former Highlander Kurt Baker returns to the All Black Sevens squad as a contracted player for 2016. Scott Curry, Declan O'Donnell, DJ Forbes and Sherwin Stowers were not available because of injuries. World Cup-winning All Black Liam Messam was unavailable because of playing commitments in Japan which means Sonny Bill Williams is likely to be the only 2015 World Cup-winning All Black to make the 12 for Wellington.
It will be interesting to see if Ropiha has time to quiz Williams on some boxing pointers in the countdown to his March 5 bout with Clive's Rocky Pohatu in the Kings of Club Rugby Charity Boxing show at PG Arena.
