RUGBY SEVENS - Ranger looks for sevens triumph

THIS weekend's Whangarei Sevens tournament will give Wellsford's Rene Ranger a rare chance to show off his sevens skills in front of a Northland crowd.
Ranger has yet to miss a tournament on the IRB Sevens circuit this season, and with Kiwi wins in Dubai, George, Wellington and San Diego, New Zealand leads the series 32 points ahead of second-placed South Africa.
The next two tournaments in the series are in Hong Kong at the end of the month, followed by Adelaide in early April, and the Wellsford speedster is keen to continue his part in what looks like a campaign headed towards glory.
"I hope I'll retain my spot in the squad and make it over to Hong Kong but Afeleke Pelenise is back from injury so nothing's certain," he said.
Ranger said he is pretty sure that his club side, which won the Whangarei tournament last year, will once again be one of the frontrunners when it gets underway tonight. But he said the champions for the past two tournaments are expecting a tougher challenge this year.
"There are always surprises in sevens and young [emerging] players can change how a team performs pretty quickly," he said.
He said Marist could be the team to challenge Wellsford's recent dominance at the competition.
"They've got Adriaan Ferris, our old coach last year, as their coach and he's taken a few of our players up there this year, so they could be hard to beat," he said.
Whangarei Marist also made the final of the recent NZ Marist sevens championships before being narrowly beaten by Wellington in the final.
Ranger said Mid-Northern are another team to watch this year.
The 22-year-old is more than ready to help Wellsford have a crack at winning their third consecutive tournament after returning from a New Zealand sevens camp in the Bay of Plenty over the weekend.
" The Whangarei Sevens tournament gets under way tonight at Homeworld Stadium and Okara Park number-two. Six under-15 teams and 18 senior teams are participating, with the tournament final expected to be at around 5pm tomorrow.