HONG KONG - Karl Te Nana could be joining his former national sevens team-mates Rua Tipoki and Rico Gear in the Otago Highlanders Super 12 rugby squad.
Although neither Te Nana nor his New Zealand Sevens team coach, Gordon Tietjens, was saying, it is believed the Highlanders have applied to draft
the star of the weekend's Hong Kong Sevens tournament into their squad this week.
He is expected to be a replacement for the injured Dan Parkinson.
Te Nana, a 26-year-old former Wellington winger, now with North Harbour, won the player-of-the-tournament award on Sunday night after he helped New Zealand to beat favourites Fiji 31-5 in the final.
His absence would be a major loss for Tietjens, who may also be without such key players as forward Craig Newby and the consistent Tony Monaghan for the Japan Sevens at the weekend.
Newby, aged 20, has an ankle injury and is on crutches and Monaghan probably has concussion. He was knocked unconscious when scoring the second of New Zealand's five tries against Fiji. Concussed players face a mandatory three-week stand-down.
Standby players with the team flying to Japan from Hong Kong today are Canterbury's Jason Tiatia and Wellington's Rodney So'oailo.
Sunday night's win made New Zealand $US100,000 ($206,953) richer and added 30 points to their sevens series tally, which hauled them back into contention for the overall title.
Fiji still lead the series with 152 points and New Zealand are second with 150, with the Japan and the French tournaments to go.
Tietjens rated Sunday night's win as one of the best by New Zealand. Fiji had won the previous three Hong Kong tournaments. - NZPA
