The Australian National Men’s 7s Team (Aussie Thunderbolts) and Australian National Women’s 7s Team (Aussie Pearls) have been confirmed to defend their UON Central Coast Sevens titles in October.
The national teams claimed a double victory in 2015 with the Thunderbolts overcoming a strong Tabadamu side from Fiji who featured a number of former Fiji 7s Stars including former Fiji Captain Setefano Cakau, The National Mens 7s team utilised the Central Coast Sevens as preparation for the Olympic qualification tournament held in November, where the Thunderbolts successfully qualified for the Rio Games joining their female counterparts who had automatically qualified based on World Series standings.
In the Kinesio Cup the Pearls faced arch-nemeses New Zealand in the Final running away with the match in emphatic style and followed on by winning the Sevens World-Series being crowned World Champions for the first time.
Both teams are now firmly focused on final preparations for the Rio Olympics with the final Olympic Squads recently announced on Thursday 14th July with both teams looking exceptionally strong.
UON Central Coast Sevens Tournament Director Craig Morgan said “we are pleased to confirm the return of our national teams and defending champions, this is an extremely exciting time for the game, our national players and the program staff as they head to Rio. We are right behind the teams on their quest to win gold and we are very much looking forward to seeing if both the men’s and women’s teams can defend their titles on the Central Coast in October”.
Tournament Ambassador and Avoca Junior Jesse Parahi has been named in the Olympic Team to compete in Rio, Morgan added “We are ecstatic for Jesse, he is a tremendous ambassador for the Central Coast Sevens and the game itself, he is genuine and humble and we are so pleased to see Jesse achieve his dreams”.
The UON Central Coast Sevens will kick off Friday 21st October with a youth boys and girls tournament followed by a weekend of International Sevens action with the men’s and women’s tournaments taking place Saturday 22nd and Sunday 23rd October 2016.
