May deadline for SBW's Sevens dream
Sonny Bill Williams has been given a May deadline to confirm his availability for New Zealand's Sevens team that will compete at the Olympic Games next year.
Williams, who is currently preparing for another boxing bout, is one of several high-profile All Blacks on the wishlist of NZ Sevens coach Gordon Tietjens.
The others are brothers Julian and Ardie Savea, Liam Messam, Charles Piutau, Ben Smith, Hosea Gear and Victor Vito.
Of that group, only Williams has no previous Sevens experience.
The New Zealand Rugby Union will unveil a provisional squad – which will feature an amalgamation of Sevens specialists, Super Rugby stars and All Blacks who have signalled interest – in late May.
A wider squad must also be submitted to the New Zealand Olympic Committee by August 5 – one year out from the games in Rio de Janeiro.
Up to 26 players will then be confirmed in the squad announced after the World Cup in October.
That squad will be whittled down to 12 players for the Olympics.
NZRU General Manager Rugby Neil Sorensen and player relationship manager Ben Castle, the former Chiefs prop, will canvas several of those players in the coming months.
"Ben and I are going around in the next couple of months to talk to players Titch [Tietjens] may be interested in about how it might work in 2016 in terms of whether they can play any Super Rugby and how many sevens tournaments they'd have to play," Sorensen told stuff.co.nz.
"It's going to be personalised to a large extent.
"The Super Rugby teams need to know sooner than later so they can talk to other players. Knocking it off in May this year gives everyone certainty.
"You're looking at a mix of specialist gurus, the experts who have played sevens for a few years, and a smattering of other players like Sonny Bill. I certainly don't see it being eight All Blacks and four other guys. It won't work like that."
Source: Stuff
