Gillies Kaka returns to the All Blacks Sevens squad for the final two rounds of the HSBC Sevens World Series as Sir Gordon Tietjens names his squad of 12 for Glasgow and London.
Sam Vaka is also named having been injured in January, with the defending Glasgow, London and Series champions sitting third in the overall series standings behind South Africa and Fiji.
Sevens Re:LIVE! Comedy moment from @GilliesKaka @nz7s @AllBlacks – high-fives ref and them himself after scoring try https://t.co/3Mrg0nlhLG
— World Rugby Sevens (@WorldRugby7s) December 14, 2014
With qualification for the Olympics high on New Zealand’s agenda, they face a tough pool in Glasgow with Kenya, Samoa and South Africa their opponents as they also aim to win a 13th World Series title.
“It’s important we do well. If we win that pool and go on to win the tournament we can go on to win the World Series,” said Tietjens.
“It’s going to be tough. Qualifying for the Olympics is always our first priority so it’s paramount we do well and accumulate more points.
“We finished last season by winning the last two tournaments. But this will be tougher. We’re sitting third on the table, but we can bounce back and we’ve been in this situation where at the death we’ve won another World Series so it’s a challenge for us and I am hoping we really perform.”
New Zealand’s place in Rio will be dependant on performances in Glasgow but they can assure their spot at the Olympics with a fourth placed finish.
NEW ZEALAND SQUAD: Scott Curry, Ambrose Curtis, Dylan Collier, Sam Dickson, Gillies Kaka, DJ Forbes (c), Reiko Ioane, Tim Mikkelson, Sherwin Stowers, Beudein Waaka, Joe Webber, Sam Vaka
