Whanganui head north for sevens

Dane Whale and his Taihape team mates form the bulk of the representative sevens team playing in New Plymouth today.

It will be a very Taihape-centric Whanganui Sevens team which plays their first representative tournament of the season in New Plymouth today.

With injuries and unavailablity robbing coach Tom Wells of around 15 of the 25 players who made the initial training group announced after the club sevens tournament, he will take a squad of 11-12 up to Yarrow Stadium.

This will include all five of Wells' Taihape Premier team mates in the squad, plus loan player Ben Whale, the brother of Dane who currently plays for Harbour down in Otago but turns out for his home club sevens team when he comes back for the holidays.

Wells said he may also call in the third Whale brother in Luke to help plug the gaps today.

"There's a whole lot of players unavailable just for this week.

"Hopefully Te's knee is alright because he's a fantastic player."

NZ Heartland representative Te Rangatira Waitokia is still recovering from his knee injury in Fiji, while Collegiate's Cody Hemi has school sports commitments this weekend.

In a big loss, Samu Kubunavanua has opted to play for Manawatu.

Also joining the team from outside the initial squad is Pirates' Patrick Hiscox, who was part of last season's team which won the Shield final at the Bayleys National Sevens in Rotorua.

Returning from Manawatu club rugby will be loan player and Marton product Tyler Rogers-Holden, while the other team members are Ngamatapouri's Timoci Seruwalu, Ratana's Te Tua Kemp and the Taihape players neighbour Brett Illston (Utiku).

Either Dane Whale or Tremaine Gilbert will take the captaincy.

Wells said after this weekend the team should welcome back regulars like Border's Kieran Hussey and Kaierau's Kameli Kuruyabaki, meaning the squad to contest the Central Region qualifiers will be just as strong as last year.

Whanganui are entering a four team tournament in New Plymouth, as the Taranaki union has opted to split their training squad into two teams, plus the fourth invited side is likely to be King Country.

Wells said they had the choice of a few invitational tournaments this weekend, but felt going to Yarrow Stadium would be the biggest test.

"Playing Taranaki 2-3 times in a day would set us up.

"Hopefully there will be 4-5 games to make it worth it."

It also raises the prospect of the local players facing their former Steelform Wanganui team mate Trinity Spooner-Neera, who moved to Taranaki this season, while the other Whanganui import Stephen Perofeta will be in Auckland in preseason training with the Blues.

The Wanganui team is
Hamish Bennett, Sefo Bourke, Jaye Flaws, Tremaine Gilbert, Patrick Hiscox, Brett Illston, Te Tua Kemp, Tyler Rogers-Holden, Timoci Seruwalu, Ben Whale, Dane Whale. Possible: Luke Whale.