History Making Womens Rugby Sevens NTS

The Australian Womens Rugby team, the Wallaroos made their debut into 15-a-side international competition in 1994, but this year is the first time an Australian Women’s Sevens team will compete on the international stage, when they take part in the Oceania qualifiers for the 2009 Rugby Sevens World Cup.

The qualifiers, to be held in Samoa on 25 and 26 July, will involve nations from the Oceania region including New Zealand, Samoa and Fiji, with only two teams advancing to the 16-team World Cup main draw to be held in Dubai next year.

23 women have been selected into the Sevens National Training squad after selection trials were held this week in Sydney and Brisbane.   This will be trimmed down to 12 players who will compete in Samoa. The squad consists of a mix of players with 13 Wallaroos, five touch players and five club players named.

Team Manager, Matt Grimison believes the strong skills shown at the trials, as well as the mix of players gives the squad a solid base to work on.  “I was very excited to see the excellent standard of play, as well as a good mix of national, touch and club players, which will give us a highly competitive team for the World Cup qualifiers”.

The 2008 Women’s Rugby Sevens National Training Squad is :

Nicole Beck (NSW)
Ili Batibasaga (QLD)
Trisha Brown (QLD)
Bo De La Cruz (NSW)
Losa Fangupo (NSW)
Tegan French (VIC)
Alex Hargreaves (NSW)
Faz Hayati (NSW)
Natasha Gaffney (QLD)
Ami Gilbert (QLD)
Debbie Hodgkinson (WA)
Amanda Judd (NSW)
Tobie McGann (NSW)
Cassandra Nunn (QLD)
Tui Ormsby (NSW)
Ruan Sims (NSW)
Cheryl Soon (NSW)
Selene Thornton (NSW)
Bec Trethowan (NSW)
Megan Valler (ACT)
Annalise Robson (QLD)
Selena Tranter (QLD)
Kelly Woods (NSW)