Sevens squad eyes Rotorua

Border's Kieran Hussey played for another team at the Wanganui Club sevens to make sure he was selected for the representative squad announced yesterday.

Whanganui representative sevens coach Tom Wells has settled on a wider training squad of 25 players to begin preparations for trying to qualify for the Bayleys National Sevens in Rotorua in January.

As expected, Taihape and Ngamatapouri players are the biggest represented clubs following Saturday's final at the Settler's Honey Wanganui Club Sevens at Marton Park, where Ngamatapouri won back-to-back championships.

With a smaller field of six teams, a number of Whanganui players named did not take part in the tournament, such as Border's Tom Symes and Marist's Simon Dibben, while Symes' clubmate Kieran Hussey was an invitational player for another team in Marton.

Steelform Wanganui tryscoring machine and NZ Heartland representative Te Rangatira Waitokia has also been named after returning from the tour of Fiji on the weekend.

Three loan players are also named in Ben Whale and Tyler Rogers Holden - key men for the team at nationals last summer - along with Palmerston North-based Tobias Wickham-Manuel.

The squad will have a run through this evening at 6pm at Marton Park.

Whanganui will play a warm up tournament in Taranaki against local and Manawatu teams on November 26, in preparations for the Central Region qualifying tournament on December 10.

Should they then qualify for Rotorua, the team will likely play other regional tournaments in preparation for the nationals in January.

Now in the third year of a local sevens programme, Whanganui missed the nationals in 2014, but qualified last year and ultimately won the Shield final in Rotorua.

The wider training squad is:
Kieran Hussey, Tom Symes (Border); Asalemo Malo, Kameli Kuruyabaki (Kaierau); Simon Dibben (Marist); Te Rangatira Waitokia, Hare Meihana (Metro); Timoci Seruwalu, Samu Kubunavanua, Isireli Baleitavuki (Ngamatapouri); Lasa Ulukuta (Pirates); Kane Tamou, Te Tua Kemp, Josiah Maraku (Ratana); Jamie Hughes (Ruapehu); Tremaine Gilbert, Jaye Flaws, Dane Whale, Hamish Bennett, Sefo Bourke (Taihape); Brett Illston (Utiku); Cody Hemi (Wanganui Collegiate); Ben Whale, Tyler Rogers-Holden, Tobias Wickham-Manuel (Loan).