• • Facebook
  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • Technorati
  • Reddit
  • Stumble Upon
  • Furl

New Zealand and USA head coaches, Gordon Tietjens and Al Caravelli, have been forced into making significant changes ahead of the next legs in the IRB Sevens World Series in Hong Kong (27th- 29th of March) and Adelaide (3rd -5th of April).

Sevens guru Tietjens has been plagued by a horror injury list and a general unavailability of players for the majority of this season. His 17-man assembled squad in Mount Maunganui sees seven national squad members absent.

He includes newcomers Pehi Te Whare and Jordan Puletua. Te Whare is a member of the Highlanders wider training group.

Four players were not considered due to injury -- Edwin Cocker (broken leg), Willie Rickards (hamstring), Tu Umaga Marshall (back) and Viliame Waqaseduadua (concussion). Also, national squad member Tim Mikkelson has been called up in to the Chiefs squad while Auckland's Tim Nanai Williams and North Harbour's Nafi Tuitavake have been selected in the training squad for the New Zealand under-20 team to be announced next week.

The New Zealand squad of 12 will be finalised later this week and leave for Hong Kong on Saturday.

Retirement and key players returning overseas have also hindered Eagles boss Al Caravelli whose training squad had a young look to it when they met at the Chula Vista Olympic Training Centre last weekend. A poor World Cup and the loss of players such as Chris Wyles and Todd Clever leaves a potential big hole for Caravelli to fill, but the coach is determined to build once again for the future.

“The team selected for the third leg of the series will be very different than the prior two,” Caravelli said. “It will be by far our youngest squad and everyone who has been invited are excited to come into camp and claim their spots.”

New Zealand Training Squad: Tomasi Cama (Manawatu), DJ Forbes (Captain, Counties Manukau), Paul Grant (Otago), Luke Hamilton (North Harbour), Joe Hill (Wellington), Nigel Hunt (Bay of Plenty), Solomon King (Bay of Plenty), Zar Lawrence (Bay of Plenty), Lance McDonald (Bay of Plenty), Jordan Puletua (Auckland), Lote Raikabula (Manawatu), Julian Savea (Wellington), Ben Souness (Taranaki), Tutu Tairea (Auckland), Pehi Te Whare (Southland), Save Tokula (Waikato), Chad Tuoro (Counties Manukau).

USA Training Squad: Jarvis Albury, Cory Blair, Malr Bokhoven, Justin Boyd, Matthew Byrd, James Gillenwater, Kevin Erskine, Matt Hawkins, PJ Komongnan, Jone Naqica, Thretton Palamo, Zach Pangelinan, Rikus Pretorius, Dallen Stanford, Shalom Suniula, Roland Sunila, Kevin Swiryn, Zach Test, Charlie Vai’ai, Taylor Welsh.