Parahi shattered after ruling himself out of Sydney 7's

The dangerous ball-carrying Jesse Parahi will miss the next month’s Sydney 7s after re-injuring his jaw in training this week.

It's a cruel setback for the 27-year-old who was looking forward to playing in the tournament after he sat on the sidelines with his then Wests Tigers teammates after a brief stint in the NRL with the club.

“I haven’t played the Sydney 7s yet, I was actually sitting with the Wests Tigers boys at the tournament last year so personally I was really excited to be playing in it this year,” Parahi said.

Parahi had made his return to the side for December’s Cape Town Sevens after recovering from an ankle injury in what was his first hit out since the Rio Olympics back in August.

Very happy to be back in time for @capetown7s!! 😄👌#teamrehab 👋 pic.twitter.com/wrR9s86xSY

— Jesse Parahi (@Jparahi) December 6, 2016

Parahi joins Nick Malouf (knee), John Porch (ankle), Tom Lucas (knee) and captain Lewis Holland amongst those not considered for selection for the Sydney 7s.

All except for Holland are expected to return to full training ahead of the Las Vegas leg in March.
Coach Andy Friend has admitted that his side will have one eye on the Sydney 7s next weekend but has stated that his troops will not take the Wellington tournament lightly.

“Sydney is our marquee tournament for this year because it’s our home event but in saying that we have to go to Wellington and do a good job over there,” Friend said.

“We know Sydney is around the corner but Wellington is the main focus right now.”

 

Shattered to be missing out on the Sydney 7s again after surgery on my Zygomatic arch last week I managed to cop another knock on the same cheek which has left a bit of a dent that the panel beater can't fix in time 😞

A photo posted by Jesse Parahi (@jparahi) on Jan 23, 2017 at 2:03pm PST

Fox Sports will broadcast the two day tournament live on Fox Sports 2 from 8.50am (AEDT) on Saturday 28 January.

TEAM

Qantas Australian Men’s Sevens squad, Wellington.

1. Henry Hutchison

2. Tom Kingston

3. Sam Myers

4. Alex Gibbon

5. James Stannard

6. Tate McDermott*

7. Boyd Killingworth

8. Dylan Pietsch*

9. Tim Anstee

10. Michael Adams

11. Charlie Taylor

12. Conor Mitchell

13th man - Simon Kennewell

*Denotes uncapped

FIXTURE

Day One – Saturday 28 January

Australia v Fiji, Pool B, 9.46am (AEDT)

Australia v South Africa, Pool B, 1.33pm (AEDT)

Australia v Japan, Pool B, 4.52pm (AEDT)