RUGBY: Search on for sevens stars of future

The New Zealand Rugby Union will be heading to Northland in the search of Women's Sevens Olympic hopefuls on May 6 as part of their Go4Gold Women's Sevens Programme.

Northland is hosting one of 14 open trial camps around the country with 80 female athletes from the region signing up to test out their skills on May 6 at Kensington Park's Marist Rugby and Sports Club, in Whangarei.

NZ's women's sevens coach Sean Horan said they were encouraging all types of athletes to give sevens a go.

"To be a great sevens player you need to be fit, have speed and be highly motivated with a great work ethic.

"We have some great 15s players in this country, some of whom will make fantastic sevens players, but we also have untapped talent out there and we are hoping that these trial camps unearth some of that," Horan said. "Once we identify players as potential sevens Olympians, we will monitor their progress through development programmes that will boost their fitness and help them learn the game," he added.

NZRU general manager of professional rugby Neil Sorensen said the inclusion of sevens in the 2016 Olympics would see the game grow massively.

"We've been working in partnership with High Performance Sport New Zealand and it's exciting that we can now realistically offer young female athletes a chance at winning an Olympic Gold medal, something that all athletes aspire to achieve," Sorensen said.

The trial camps will test players in three key areas - speed, skill, endurance and character tests. The Go4Gold programme in 2012 aims to build a base of female sevens players with the aim of competing in international invitational tournaments later in the year.

To register for the Go4Gold programme go to http://www.radiosport.co.nz/feature/normal/go-for-gold-2016/