In four years, the Olympic Games move to Rio de Janeiro and rugby will get involved. Rugby writer Steve Hepburn looks into the crystal ball and picks a New Zealand sevens team for the next Olympics.
Sevens is a game of speed. The Franks brothers can put that Rio guide book away. Any New Zealand side for the Olympics will be based on pace, craft and size. Possible candidates include.-
He's big, strong and fast. He'll be coming up 26 in Rio, hopefully in his prime, and busting defences at will. Then again, he may eat a wee bit too much food, clock up the injuries and head out to pasture. If not Julian, then talented younger brother Ardie could get in on the act.
JOE WEBBER
A product of Hamilton Boys' High School, this youngster is not yet 20 but has all the skills and pace to burn. Rushed straight into the senior national sevens side shortly after leaving school.
He may be almost picking up the pension when the next Olympics roll around but he will still be playing. Who else would you want for experience, mana and physicality?
Is a born winner, and is better than DJ Forbes.
This guy is a pocket rocket who has explosive speed off the mark. Is groomed for bigger things and can turn on a 10c piece.
After trying a dozen sports in the next three years, surely a chance to be at the biggest sporting show of them all will be too much for the big man to turn down. And if not sevens, then maybe something else - taekwondo, judo, archery. The possibilities are endless.
NELSON ASOFA-SOLOMONA
Google him. He is only 16 but this Wellington College pupil already is as tall as most All Black locks and can run as fast as the best school sprinters. He stands out in any game because of his sheer size and has a wing span which would rival any albatross. If he can mix it at the top level, his physical attributes could be hard to ignore.
TIM NANAI-WILLIAMS
His twinkling feet and lightning speed will be hard to ignore. If not him, then someone like Buxton Popoali'i could easily fit into the side.
THE UNKNOWN FIJIAN
Just like the compulsory hugs before and after the game- and the haka - every New Zealand side has to have a Fijian in it.
Sometimes more than one.
Tomasi Cama will be nearly 36 by the next Olympics, so will be too old. But in some village, a few hours from Suva, there will be some young talent who will find his way into the New Zealand side.
