The Australian Men’s Youth Sevens squad has been named today for the Australian Youth Olympic Festival being held in Sydney in January 2013.
The squad will compete alongside China, Fiji, Great Britain, Japan, Samoa, South Africa and Tonga in the Rugby Sevens tournament which runs from Friday 18 January to Saturday 19 January at St. Ignatius College Riverview.
In selecting the Australian men’s squad, coach Hugh Carpenter drew from a broad range of players from club, high school competitions and the Australian Schoolboys touring squad.
“We’ve had a very extensive selection process,” Carpenter said.
“We had a camp recently for 23 athletes that allowed us to narrow our squad down to 12 who will be back in camp in December to prepare for the tournament in January.”
The squad features five members of the 2012 Australian Schoolboys side which defeated New Zealand Schools in Auckland earlier this year.
In addition to the form of the Australian Schoolboys, Carpenter used the work done by ARU’s Community Rugby department in developing National Sevens tournaments at the high school level.
“I think we’re well on our way to developing strong youth Sevens athletes, there’s a lot of opportunities for our athletes to play at the school level in Sevens now,” Carpenter said.
“We’re confident we’ll be fielding a strong team.
“We’ve got a great mix of players and that’s the great thing about Sevens, it’s starting to attract a lot of players now with its Olympic affiliation.”
General manager of ARU’s High Performance Unit, David Nucifora, praised the work that has been done at a grass-roots level to assist Carpenter in selecting a quality side.
“A significant amount of work has been done at the grass roots, particularly the primary and high school levels, to develop the game of Sevens,” Nucifora said.
“Without this focus on development it would have been very difficult for coaches to choose the best representation for the tournament.
“This tournament is just the first step for these young athletes.
“With Rugby Sevens now an Olympic sport, some incredibly exciting opportunities are now available to our talented young athletes, who will see this as their first opportunity to put their hand up for a spot at Rio 2016.
“ARU would like to thank the Australian Olympic Committee for its continued support of our programs.
“The Australian Youth Olympic Festival is a great opportunity for our young athletes and will only further their development.”
The Australian Youth Olympic Festival takes place every four years and features 17 sports, with Rugby Sevens enjoying its first year of competition at the event in 2013.
The Rugby Sevens tournament will feature eight nations on both the men’s and the women’s side of the competition with a total 192 athletes travelling to Sydney for the event.
Australian Youth Olympic Festival men’s Sevens squad
|
NAME
|
POSITION
|
STATE
|
SCHOOL
|
|
Ericson Aukafolau
|
Outside back
|
NSW
|
Westfield Sports High School
|
|
Arthur Currie
|
Forward
|
NSW
|
St. Gregory’s College, Campbelltown
|
|
Adrian Delore
|
Half
|
NSW
|
Whitebridge High School
|
|
Lolo Fakaosilea
|
Forward
|
QLD
|
Brisbane Boys College
|
|
Guy Hamilton
|
Half
|
QLD
|
Keebra Park High School
|
|
Andrew Kellaway
|
Outside back
|
NSW
|
Scots College
|
|
Jack McCalman
|
Forward
|
NSW
|
The Kings School
|
|
Tepai Meoroa
|
Forward
|
NSW
|
Newington College
|
|
Patolo Toeta
|
Half
|
VIC
|
Melbourne Grammar
|
|
Jack Tuttle
|
Centre
|
QLD
|
St. Joseph’s College, Nudgee
|
|
Bill Valetini
|
Forward
|
VIC
|
Westall Secondary College
|
|
Brad Wilkin
|
Forward
|
QLD
|
Iona College
|