Sevens: New-look Whanganui have a Mount to climb

Samu Kubunavanua playing for Whanganui.

Some new faces will fill the ranks of the Whanganui sevens team for another warmup tournament at Mount Maunganui tomorrow ahead of next weekend's Bayleys National Sevens in Rotorua.

After qualifying for Rotorua by making the semifinals of December's Central Sevens tournament in Levin, three players have departed with Francis Vakadranu no longer involved, Timoci Serawalu pulling out for personal reasons and Bobo Ulukuta away in Fiji.

Coach Tom Wells has brought in Kaierau and Heartland rugby veteran Ace Malo and Utiku's Brett Illston, who was part of the sevens squad last season, while joining the team is new Taihape player Sefo Bourke, who has played club rugby in Waikato.

After being assistant coach in Levin, Ben Whale will again play as the teams are allowed to use 14-man squads instead of 12 for the nationals.

Wells said after the Christmas holiday break, the team had their first training together on Tuesday and it was a good hit out.

"Everyone seems to have progressed from where they are. The boys are pretty excited."

Tomorrow, Whanganui have been drawn in the pool with hosts Bay of Plenty, Waikato and Poverty Bay.

There will be three pools, including almost all the top North Island teams who have qualified for Rotorua, such as Northern region winners Auckland, along with the Canterbury squad who will fly up.

"It's almost a better quality than the nationals, we're the only Heartland team there, bar Poverty Bay who have come in for Hawke's Bay," said Wells.

Poverty Bay have not qualified for the nationals and are covering Hawke's Bay's last-minute withdrawal for unspecified reasons.

The loss of the three Fijian players will be tough and Wells said they were likely to play five times tomorrow, with three levels of finals after pool play.

Their focus was on sorting out combinations with the new players coming in.

"It's next week that matters, [but] it would be nice to knock someone over and get a couple of results," said Wells.

The players also had a sense from Levin, where they beat two Heartland teams but lost to the Mitre 10 Cup [formally ITM Cup] teams, just how much effort and fitness it will take to be competitive for an entire day.

"The boys were disappointed after that last game, the 3rd/4th [playoff] with Wellington, we got touched up a bit," said Wells. "They made it clear they don't want that again."

The team:

Isireli Baleitavuki, Sefo Bourke, Tremaine Gilbert, Jaye Flaws, Patrick Hiscox, Kieran Hussey, Brett Illston, Samu Kubunavanua, Kameli Kuruyabaki, Ace Malo, Tyler Rogers-Holden, Ben Whale, Dane Whale. Coach: Tom Wells. Manager: Gareth Hagan.