Rugby: Gear boosts sevens line-up for Cake Tin

Hosea Gear. Photo / Getty Images

New Zealand sevens coach Gordon Tietjens has included All Black Hosea Gear and named two new caps in the team to compete at the fourth leg of the sevens world series in Wellington this weekend.

Wellington's 18-year-old Ardie Savea, the younger brother of Hurricane and former New Zealand sevens player Julian Savea, is in line to make his debut in his home town.

Hawkes Bay's Mark Jackman will also don the New Zealand jersey for the first time. Jackman hails from Canterbury and is a product of the Christchurch Boys' High School rugby fraternity.

Gear made himself available for selection for the New Zealand leg of the series and said he hoped to strengthen his case for All Black selection by performing well in the sevens.

Tietjens said picking the side was challenging.

"All the players have really stepped it up a notch in the past few days and trained really well making this a very difficult team to pick.

"We love the support we get here in Wellington and this tournament is always one of the highlights on the sevens world series, but this also makes it one of the toughest to win," Tietjens said.

Fiji and New Zealand are joint top of the world series with 51 points from three events.

TIETJENS' PICKS

2012 New Zealand sevens squad: Toby Arnold (Bay of Plenty), Tomasi Cama (Manawatu), DJ Forbes (Counties Manukau), Hosea Gear (Wellington), Frank Halai (Waikato), Bryce Heem (Auckland), Mark Jackman (Hawkes Bay), Solomon King (North Harbour), Tim Mikkelson (Waikato), Charles Piutau (Auckland), Lote Raikabula (Wellington), Ardie Savea (Wellington).