The Australian Men’s Sevens side will go to Vancouver with just the one change for this weekend.
Tournament captain Sam Myers has had to return to Australia with an abdominal strain which brings Simon Kennewell into the team, moving up from the non-playing 13th man spot.
Mick Adams, who was playing in the Tribe Sevens side at the Las Vegas Invitational Sevens tournament, now takes up that emergency position in the squad.
Tom Lucas will step up to the captaincy duties following a solid performance last weekend in his return to the World Series circuit.
20 year old Kennewell should slot easily into the team having been on tour for all this season’s tournaments to date.
The teams are arriving at @yvrairport! Make sure to follow us on @Snapchat at canadasevens for more #bts over tournament week & weekend! pic.twitter.com/HmYTmWkTMm
— Canada Sevens (@canadasevens) March 7, 2017
Despite the immediate disappointment of their sixth place finish in Las Vegas, the Aussies performed well overall and, apart from Myers, have come out of the tough three-day tournament relatively unscathed.
Coach Andy Friend is looking forward to the challenges which the first day of competition in Vancouver is going to throw up.
“We have a very exciting pool with France, Japan and USA,” he said.
“We are neck and neck with the USA on the Series standings so it’s a great opportunity for us to have them in our pool.
“France is (also) a dangerous team and we have only played them once since Rio,” said Friend.
Now sitting just below Australia in the rankings, the USA has its tail up and will be looking to ride the momentum of last weekend to another big result.
So Australia will be keen to get wins on the board against France and Japan before tackling the USA juggernaut.
Andy Friend is ready for the challenge and feeling confident, having lost only narrowly in the Quarter Finals last weekend to eventual winners, South Africa, and having pushed Olympic champions Fiji in the pool stage.
The youngsters in the team are continuing to put in impressive performances with Lachie Anderson emerging as the standout performer for the Aussies in Las Vegas, making World Rugby’s Dream Team for the tournament, in just his second World Series appearance.
Tremendous effort for Lachie Anderson in only his 2nd World Series Tournament. Seven tries and plenty of tackles. Bright future ahead 👍🏻 https://t.co/2xy0igjxnf
— Andy Friend (@andyfriend2011) March 6, 2017
Drawn in Pool C, Australia should acquit itself well against its Day One opponents, if performances front the last two tournaments are an accurate measure and will be looking for another final eight berth.
The second tournament of the North American World Series pair has become a popular event for rugby fans and organisers are expecting big crowds over the two days.
TEAM
Australian Sevens squad for Vancouver 7s
Henry Hutchison
Liam McNamara
Simon Kennewell
Alex Gibbon
James Stannard
Tate McDermott
Tim Anstee
Tom Lucas
Ed Jenkins
Nick Malouf
Brandon Quinn
Lachie Anderson
Michael Adams – 13th man
FIXTURE
Vancouver Sevens, Sunday March 12
Australia vs France, 4:30am AEDT
Australia vs Japan, 8:06am AEDT
Australia v USA, 12:08pm AEDT
